Winston-Salem, N.C. - Appalachian State University field hockey played its final exhibition of the 2015 season on Sunday, but came up short at Wake Forest by a score of 7-0.

The Mountaineers played the home-standing Demon Deacons tight for the first 15 minutes before the home team began to gain some momentum and took the 7-0 win. Despite the loss, head coach Meghan Dawson had several positive things to add afterwards.

"This was a great opportunity for our team, was vital for our growth as a program and it marked the third day in a row that we played and our team rose to the challenge," said Dawson.

Wake Forest is a program that qualified for the 2014 NCAA Tournament, earned a bye out of a play-in game to the first round and was ranked No. 5 in the final NFHCA coaches' poll. Jennifer Averill, head coach of the Deamon Deacons, is in her 24th season at the helm for Wake Forest and 25th overall with nearly 350 wins to her credit. 

On the other end of things, coach Dawson hasn't played a game that mattered yet and because of that, she knew how much the team could learn from such a powerhouse program.

"One of the best things we saw from today's game was Wake's ball speed, which picked up the tempo," said Dawson. "That will help us to prepare before we head into the opening weekend."

Just like the Davidson loss on Saturday, the Apps will get another shot at Wake Forest on Friday, Oct. 2 in Boone at 5 p.m.

"Today, we got better at a few things that really hurt us when we played Davidson," said Dawson. "By fixing some of these errors, it's impressive to see the improvement from day one and our goal is always to improve each and every day."

Next up for Appalachian State is the 2015 season opener on Friday, Aug. 28 at Louisville beginning at 6:30 p.m.