After defeating No. 2 Maryland and sliding through an oil slick, the field hockey team is ready to take on itself-the Duke of the North.
The victory over the Terrapins catapulted the previously unranked Blue Devils to a school-record ranking of seventh. Then Tuesday's game versus Wake Forest was rescheduled due to an oil spill on I-85. Today, Duke will face its Ivy League alter ego-Harvard.
The talk after the Maryland win was whether the Blue Devils (2-2, 1-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) could compete in their next game without suffering an emotional letdown. But because Tuesday's game was rescheduled, Duke goes into the weekend having had a long time to cool down.
"I don't think [not playing Wake] will affect anything," head coach Liz Tchou said. "After the cancellation, we played a little five-on-five to help vent our frustration and get a little energy out."
After taking on the Crimson today at 3:30 p.m., Duke will return to action on Sunday to face William and Mary at 4 p.m. Both contests will be played at the East Campus Turf Fields.
Tchou knows little about either team, but this should not be a problem for the Blue Devils. They tend to focus more on themselves than the opposition. This attitude could explain their reaction to their No. 7 ranking.
"We know we're a good team," senior tri-captain Lynn Schoenherr said. "We're excited about our ranking, but we won't let it affect our play."
Even though Duke knocked off the Terrapins, the victory taught the Blue Devils that they needed to hone certain skills. After the celebration had subsided, Schoenherr asked Tchou if the team could focus on defending breakaways. Subsequently, the Blue Devils spent this week practicing one-on-one situations as well as other basic skills. It is this attention to the simple details of the game that is making Duke very successful.
"Against Maryland when we didn't have momentum, I thought we were giving them a lot of opportunities to penetrate our circle," Tchou said. "So this week we worked on keeping our skill level high even when our momentum is down."
Good skills coupled with a close-knit group of players is leading the Blue Devils to success. The players remain enthusiastic and possess a high level of intensity every time they step on the field. Tchou says that even the non-starters have contributed immeasurably to the team. Even the freshmen have stepped up their performance.
Freshman Brooke Fuller is now the starting goalie, since the injury of sophomore Sarah Doherty. Starting in goal for a Division I college may seem daunting for someone a few months out of high school, but Fuller is taking it all in stride.
"There is a lot of pressure," Fuller said. "But the team has been very supportive, and the transition hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be."
Having already proven themselves versus ACC competition, the Blue Devils look to prove to the rest of the country this weekend that they deserve their ranking.
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