LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At the very instant the clock expired, the field was littered with sticks dropped to the ground as the Terrapin field hockey players embraced each other and their coaches.

The exuberant bench soon became as empty as the hearts of the Duke players as everybody in a white uniform hugged each other to the chorus of cheers from nearby fans.

Jumping up and down, the players huddled around coach Missy Meharg and carried the trophy above their heads as if it weighed no more than a feather.

After the weight the team’s seniors carried on their shoulders, caused by year after year of heartbreaking losses, yesterday’s 1-0 national championship win and resulting trophy brought relief and ecstasy.

They didn’t want to let their last opportunity fade away.

After receiving their trophies, seniors Lauren Powley, Emily Beach and Meredith Long dumped the team’s bucket of water on Meharg as Powley bear-hugged her to the turf.

Meharg said the seniors, who had never even advanced to the championship game in their four years, ran the show in all aspects of the game during the title run.

“They came to me and they said, ‘We have no problem telling people what we need and how we need to have it done,'” Meharg said. “It was a really clear message that they were really mature about getting stuff done, being [able] to interact with each other in a really honest way to get the outcomes that they wanted.”

It is the Terps’ fourth national championship and first since 1999.

Senior forward Jackie Ciconte scored the game’s lone goal eight minutes in to end Duke’s season in the national title game for the third consecutive year.

Ciconte calmed a bouncing ball at the Blue Devils’ 25-yard line, dribbled around goalkeeper Christy Morgan and shot it into the back of the cage.

“It went to the left side of the goal, I popped it around the goalie, prayed and I hit it in,” Ciconte said. “I just got lucky.”

Ciconte, who played all 70 minutes, said she doesn’t like dribbling in the open field. Still, her teammates didn’t think the goal was the product of luck.

“Jackie’s skill has improved so much and she’s worked so hard on it,” said Powley, a midfielder. “It showed this weekend. I know she’s so strong on the ball and I just don’t think it was luck. She had it the whole time.”

Even with a 1-0 lead, the Terps didn’t always have tight control of the action. The goal pierced what was, for the rest of the time, an even game with few spurts of momentum.

Duke coach Beth Bozman said her team didn’t take advantage of opportunities, but that it dominated the play beginning midway through the first half and ratcheted up the game plan in the second half.

“Quite honestly, I think this was the first time we’ve been in the final game and we’ve probably deserved to win,” Bozman said. “Not to slight Maryland at all. They scored. They won, but we played quite a dominating [game] especially second half.”

One of the lost opportunities came on the Blue Devils’ first penalty corner less than ten minutes after Ciconte put the Terps (23-2) ahead. Duke forward Katie Grant couldn’t connect on a pass from Julie Tromp to the side of the net, hitting the side of the cage and missing a wide-open net.

“The bottom line is the goal cage,” Meharg said. “I would say they had some emotion in the game; it was exciting, but I think in terms of mature emotion, I thought [we] had tremendous amount of maturity.”

Maturity was the strength of a team with five senior starters. As a class, yesterday’s game was their 12th in the NCAA tournament. Meharg said it can get a little frustrating to have such talented teams and not win, but singled out the seniors as the separation between winning and once again being left on the doorstep.

The Terps showed their defensive prowess yesterday by winning the lowest-scoring game in NCAA championship history. They held Duke to only five shots and sophomore goalkeeper Kathryn Masson became the first goalie in championship game history to not make a save.

“It might not be the prettiest, but the reality of the game is that,” she said.

The Terps beat No. 4-seeded Old Dominion 3-2 with a rebound goal by Ciconte being the difference Friday night.

Meharg said her team finished off nine months’ worth of goals with yesterday’s win. Throughout that time, they weren’t intimidated by the prospect of being the best team in the country.

“Our goal has been to win the ACCs this year and win the national championship,” Meharg said. “I’m just honored and blessed to work with women like this who have the courage to say it and do it.”

Contact reporter Stephen Whyno at whynodbk@gmail.com.