Duke's quest for a National Championship has been all about small steps. The Blue Devils will take their next step this weekend at the ACC Championships, where they hope to defend their ACC title and prepare themselves for their final step, the NCAA Tournament.
The first-seeded Blue Devils (14-1, 4-1) will begin the tournament in the semifinals Friday at M & T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. They will match up against the winner of Thursday's first-round contest between No. 4-seed Maryland (11-5, 2-3) and No. 5-seed Boston College (8-7, 1-4).
"It is a challenge to go back and repeat," head coach Kerstin Kimel said. "There is so much competition in our conference, and you are usually battling one of these guys to get into the final four or in the final four. So, I think it has been tremendous competition for all our ACC teams."
After defeating Virginia (13-3, 4-1), 9-6, in last season's ACC Championship game, Duke fell to Virginia, 15-13, in the national semifinals. The team's ultimate goal this season was to secure the program's first National Championship. Kimel, however, has said all season that her team is taking it one step at a time.
So far, the Blue Devils have succeeded in taking these baby steps. Before Duke played North Carolina March 8, Kimel said one of her team's regular-season goals was to secure one of the top two seeds in the ACC Championships in order to gain a first-round bye.
Duke went on to defeat the Tar Heels, 10-8. Because the Blue Devils fell to Virginia, 11-10, April 1-the only blemish on Duke's record-and UNC defeated the Cavaliers, 10-9, March 18, there was a three-way tie between the three teams at the end of the regular season. Duke's two-point victory over UNC proved to be the difference-maker and helped the team to win the point-differential tiebreaker to garner the No. 1 seed.
As one of the top two seeds, Duke will not have to suffer the grind of playing three games over the course of four days. If the Blue Devils win their semifinal match, they will instead face a Friday-Sunday schedule that mirrors the structure of the NCAA Championship's final weekend.
"The tournament format definitely kind of mimics the final four format, the Friday-Sunday kind of setup," junior midfielder Michelle Menser said. "Obviously, we are playing some of the best competition which is great preparation for the NCAA tournament."
Since the Blue Devils will not find out who they will play in their first matchup until Thursday evening, they have to prepare themselves for both Boston College and Maryland. Kimel said she is using practice this week to get her team ready for either team's high-tempo transition game.
"We worked a lot on defense and getting back to the fundamentals," junior attacker Leigh Jester said. "Either team we face, we want to show up with a good defense and transition game."
Duke defeated both squads earlier this season. The Blue Devils withstood a late comeback charge by the Terrapins to win, 9-7, Feb. 25. In Duke's last ACC regular-season game, it took advantage of a 21-1 shot differential in the first half to roll over the Eagles, 19-5, April 15.
If the Blue Devils advance to the finals for the third year in a row, they will likely face either North Carolina or Virginia-who both have championship aspirations.
"I think this tournament has always been tremendous preparation for all our ACC teams," Kimel said. "We have done a great job of representing well in the final four and in the NCAA Tournament the last couple of years."
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