The women's lacrosse team enters Friday's 4 p.m. home contest against William & Mary hungry for its third victory of the year.
The Blue Devils were destroyed by arch-rival and 14th-ranked North Carolina 15-3 Tuesday night, a loss that left Duke a little shell-shocked. Head coach Kerstin Kimel gave the team Wednesday off and had a light practice on Thursday, hoping the Blue Devils will be relaxed this afternoon. Sophomore Amy Murnick said she thought the day off will give the team a chance to regroup and get focused.
"We were still a little stunned by the outcome of the UNC game," Murnick said. "I really think that we thought we would win. We have nothing to lose in the rest of the games. We are just going to go out and play our hardest."
Duke (2-8 overall, 0-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) has struggled throughout the year with fundamentals, such as throwing and catching the ball. Those little mistakes have led to poor decisions, which has caused a general breakdown on the field. Kimel said one of the most important things the Blue Devils have to do is keep control of the ball.
Freshman Kendra Basner added that it's when the Blue Devils make those costly errors that their opponents take the lead in the game.
And once the Blue Devils are down, it's been hard for them to fight back. Kimel said one of the keys to winning Friday afternoon is not giving up once the team is down. Basner credits the mental collapse to a general lack of confidence. She said once the team gives up a couple of goals, it begins to get scared and starts panicking. The Blue Devils also begin to think negatively, believing they cannot overcome the small deficit. Those two mentalities have cost the Blue Devils throughout the year.
"I think we have to be patient on both ends of the field and have a lot of heart," Basner said. "We have to want it more than they do. We've been lacking that."
Kimel and the players also stressed the need to be more aggressive around the net. Against North Carolina, Duke had various scoring chances but could only put the ball in the net three times. Kimel said the attackers need to be a little more aggressive in getting near the goal and scoring.
"Our shots have not been very good," Kimel said. "We have a mental block right now with our shooting."
While there are various strategies Kimel hopes her team will use in Friday's game, the most important thing she wants it to do is relax. The Blue Devils have played their best when they entered a game without any expectations. That was the mentality going into the Dartmouth game, and Duke came within three goals of beating the No. 5 team in the country. Yet while playing relaxed, the Blue Devils need to do the simple things like execute their plays and remain confident. If Duke does those things, it may be able to pull out a win.
"We know what to do and we're all capable of doing it," Basner said. "We just need to dig deep no matter where we are in the game."
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