DATE: Monday, November 17, 1997             TAG: 9711170169

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   49 lines

ODU GETS WAKE-UP CALL, BUT STILL CRUISES TO FIELD HOCKEY FINAL FOUR

The Old Dominion field hockey team apparently needed a little reminder that it would have to work to get back to the NCAA Division I Final Four.

After breezing through the Colonial Athletic Association tournament last weekend, Ball State provided the wake-up call in a 9-3 Lady Monarchs victory Sunday at Foreman Field that sends ODU to a 2:45 p.m semifinal Friday against Virginia at the University of Connecticut. Two-time defending champion and top-seeded North Carolina takes on Princeton in the noon semi. The national championship is set for 1 p.m. Sunday.

ODU is seeking its eighth national championship and will be appearing in its 12th Final Four - both more than any team in NCAA Division I field hockey history. ODU, which last won a national title in 1992, is also the only team in history to reach all 17 NCAA tournaments.

After second-seeded ODU (21-2) jumped to a quick 2-0 lead, the 10th-ranked Cardinals (19-5) tied it with 6:52 left in the first half.

But as so often has been the case, that only seemed to light a fire under the Lady Monarchs, who went on to score seven unanswered points before Ball State could get back in goal.

``We felt like if we stayed in there and kept working, the game would come to us,'' said ODU coach Beth Anders.

It came to ODU often in the second half, as the Lady Monarchs took a 3-2 lead into the period on two first-period goals by Kim Miller and one by Kelly Driscoll.

Heather Simon made it 4-2 when she took a short pass from Marina DiGiacomo. Rosemarie van der Rijt made it 6-2 on a pair of penalty-corner blasts.

``We haven't played at that pace all season,'' said Ball State coach Karen Fitzpatrick, who's team hadn't allowed more than five goals in a game all season. ``The way they came out at us, we just weren't able to keep up with them.''

Just to make sure the Cardinals didn't, Simon made it 7-2 when she ripped a penalty-corner blast with Evans and Smith again setting up the play.

After Ball State made it 9-3 late in the game on Jen Brown's rebound of a Sally Northcroft shot, ODU had run up a 33-12 shooting advantage. Cardinals goalie Della Russo made sure it wasn't even more lopsided by making 17 saves. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Kim Miller led a potent ODU attack Sunday, scoring two first-period

goals in the Lady Monarchs' 9-3 win over Ball State. With the win,

ODU advances to its 12th Final Four and is seeking its eighth

national title - both records.

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