Throughout the 2009 campaign, the No. 14 Wake Forest women’s soccer team has been led by one of the best front lines in the nation. From seniors Jill Hutchinson to Kaley Fountain to Allie Sadow, the Deacs have had plenty of goal-scoring in the clutch. But last weekend in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, a 5-foot-6-inch midfielder with zero points in 46 career games stole the show.

Albert Brown/Old Gold & Black

In a pair of wins over Kennesaw State and West Virginia, junior Casey Luckhurst scored a trio of goals and led Wake Forest to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in a decade.

Coming off a 13-5-2 regular season and fourth place finish in the ACC, the Lady Deacs earned a No. 3 seed and were awarded the first two rounds of the tournament at Spry Stadium. They cruised past Atlantic Sun Champion Kennesaw State in the first round, despite missing several key starters.

With Hutchinson, freshman Kristen Meier and sophomore Amanda Howell all nursing injuries, the Deacs got their punch from an unexpected source. In the game’s third minute, seconds after freshman Alisha Woodson’s header was saved by Owl keeper Staci Pugh, Luckhurst took a cross from Sadow and found the back of the net to give the Deacs a 1-0 lead.

“Allie played a beautiful cross and I just had to put my foot on it,” Luckhurst said.

“We’ve worked a lot on finishing those kind of balls, and it paid off.”

As if her first career goal wasn’t enough, Luckhurst struck again in the 15th when she put back a rebound off a Pugh save.

“It was a garbage goal,” Luckhurst said. “That’s another thing we’ve worked, finishing those off and getting scrappy goals.”

Luckhurst was noticeably shy after the game, admitting that she “wasn’t really an interview person.” But she was happy to step in and provide some of the goal-scoring absent with her good friend Hutchinson on the sidelines. “I’m just really glad I could contribute to the team, especially in NCAAs,” Luckhurst said. “It was really important that we could show our fans and the team and everyone that just because our leading goal-scorer isn’t able to play right now we can still finish our chances and still be a team to be reckoned with.”

The Deacs outshot Kennesaw 14-5 on the day and controlled things most of the way. The Owls got their only real chance of the game in the 76th when Dingle fired a shot through the Deacon defense and into the diving arms of junior goalkeeper Amanda Barasha.

In the 78th minute, Barasha headed to the bench for senior Laura Morse, who entered the game to a loud ovation from the crowd. Morse, one of the top goalies in school history, had been the team’s starter before separating her shoulder back in October. “Laura has dedicated herself to the team for so long, coming off her shoulder injury, I wanted to get her into the game and get her feet wet a little bit,” Head Coach Tony da Luz said. “I wanted to give Laura a little bit of respect for everything she’s done for us.”

With the win, the Lady Deacs advanced to the second round of NCAA action where they would face the University of West Virginia.
The Mountaineers would have to contend with a force that Kennesaw State did not: Jill Hutchinson, who gave her team a 1-0 lead with a sliding goal in the 21st minute.

Minutes later, Luckhurst took advantage of a Mountaineer yellowcard and knocked in a header off a free kick to extend the lead to 2-0. “Earlier in the year I felt like things really weren’t going my way,” Luckhurst said. “My birthday was at the beginning of November and my parents got me a lucky horseshoe that I’ve been wearing ever since.

“I scored two goals yesterday (with it) and (when) the ref made me take it off today so I taped it under my wrist,” Luckhurst said. “The team won’t let me take it off because we keep scoring whenever I wear it.”

Luckhurst’s goal was especially crucial because it gave the Deacs the cushion they needed to lift Hutchinson and rest her for the next round. Berry capped off the day with her second goal of the season in the 35th minute off a header that snuck inside the left post.

Fountain picked up the assist on Berry’s header, bringing her season total to 11, a new school-record.

Morse again finished things off in net and got her first real test in a while on a diving save in the 88th. The Lady Deacs continued to attack to the whistle, determined to maintain their school-best 14th shutout and advance to a third round that has avoided them for the last 10 years.

“From Day One, even before the NCAA Tournament was announced, I said ‘this is the present, we’re not looking at the past at all,’” da Luz said. “I try to constantly make them think good thoughts. Thoughts affect your behavior and your performance and they really responded.”

Things will only get tougher for the Deacs, who will again face a stiff test in No. 8 and second seed South Carolina. The Gamecocks (19-3-2) were the runners-up in the SEC and advanced to the third round with a 1-0 win over Rutgers. Despite the already long season, the Deacs are hoping to extend it even further.

“I think at this point the season’s been so long, we’ve been here since the beginning of August and right now it’s just heart and playing for each other,” Luckhurst said. “Our legs are dead and it’s hard to get though every single practice and game but we do it because we love each other and we’re such a close team.”