Nov. 2, 2007

• 2007 ACC Field Hockey Championships
• Box Score
• Photo Gallery

NEWTON, Mass. - Wake Forest used a dramatic goal in the last two minutes of play to down No.2 Maryland, 2-1, and advance to the finals of the 25th Atlantic Coast Conference Field Hockey Championship in Newton, Mass., on Friday. Scoring the last goal to put the Deacons over the edge was Wake Forest senior forward Chelsea Cipriani.

Taking control of the game early on, the Terps struck first when the league's Offensive Player of the Year Katie O'Donnell fed a pass to sophomore forward Nicole Muracco in front of the goal for a 1-0 lead. For Muracco, the goal was her 13th of the season.

The Deacons, however, would slowly begin to seize momentum through the end of the first half and in the second half, and would knot the game at 1-1 when Aileen Davis, a sophomore from Edinburgh, Scotland, put in a pass from Minou Gimbrere at 46:10.

The two teams would battle back and forth for the next 20 minutes before, with just over one minute remaining, Wake Forest senior Chelsea Cipriani scored her seventh goal of the season. After a Wake Forest shot on goal, and an ensuing scramble, Cipriani, a forward from Thoroughfare, N.J., punched in the game's deciding goal to advance the Deacons to Sunday's title game.

"That was vintage Wake hockey," Deacons head coach Jen Averill said. "I'm so so proud of this team."

Wake Forest next will face the No.1 North Carolina Tar Heels, who defeated No.19 Virginia earlier on Friday in the day's first semifinal, for the title of ACC Champion. Though the two teams have met in the ACC Championship in each of the last three years, Sunday's meeting will mark the first-time ever that Wake Forest and North Carolina have faced each other for the league title. The game is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start on Sunday, November 4.