Playing in the moment.
It was this motto that carried No. 4 Duke to victory Sunday at Williams Field over Boston University, in light of its loss the day before to Wake Forest in its ACC opener.
The Blue Devils (5-1, 0-1 in the ACC) shut out the unranked Terriers (2-2) 4-0, putting their disappointing 3-0 defeat to the No. 2 Demon Deacons (6-0,1-0) out of their mind.
"When we woke up today we were starting a new game, a new team, new morale, new everything," junior goalkeeper Caitlin Williams said. "We are not who we were yesterday."
Saturday, the Blue Devils were unable to stay with their heated rival. A breakdown in the Blue Devils' front line created consistent trouble for the team. Unable to keep the ball up field, Duke's defense spent most of the first half attempting to slow the Demon Deacons' attack. The game remained scoreless at the half despite the fact that Wake had outshot the Blue Devils, 10-5.
But six minutes into the second half Wake Forest found the net on a penalty corner to put the Demon Deacons up, 1-0. Christine Suggs added two more second-half goals to push Wake's margin of victory to three.
"You can't play sloppy hockey against a really great team and not expect to be punished," head coach Beth Bozman said.
Williams did her part to help keep Duke in the game, recording 11 saves. But the effort was not enough as the Demon Deacons dominated possession, recording 14 shots on goal to the Blue Devils' five.
"I think collectively we were very disappointed with how we showed up yesterday, but Caitlin did a great job for us," Bozman said. "We did not handle their pressure very well and did not execute our game plan. It was a tough game to rebound from, but I thought we did well."
Williams received quite a bit more help Sunday, as Marian Dickinson, Cara-Lynn Lopresti and Amy Stopford all tallied goals, and Duke's defense held the Terriers to two shots on net.
"Our passing was much better today than it was yesterday and that's something that we focused on and made a goal to work on," Stopford said. "Today we tried to communicate as a team."
The opening ACC loss did not shake Duke's determination for championship success-illustrated in their quick rebound to defeat Boston.
"We are a national championship team," Williams said in describing how this weekend's outcome will fit into Duke's season.
The Blue Devils will look to defend their home field when Appalachian State and Old Dominion visit next weekend.
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