After an outstanding regular season that included wins over ranked opponents South Florida, Virginia and arch-rival North Carolina, No. 9 Duke enters the ACC tournament as the top seed in the nation's toughest conference.
But the Blue Devils know that nothing is guaranteed as they attempt to defend their 2005 ACC Championship.
"In these kind of things, it's whoever gets hot when the tournament starts that you want to avoid, and you never know who that's going to be in this league," head coach John Rennie said.
The tournament, held in Germantown, Md. and hosted by Maryland, kicked off yesterday. Duke won the 2005 title in a shootout victory over North Carolina for the Blue Devils' fourth ACC Championship. This year's nine-team tournament boasts an astounding five squads among the top 10 in the nation.
The Blue Devils (13-3-1) clinched the No. 1 seed for the event despite their loss to Clemson last Saturday night. Duke finished tied with Wake Forest for first place in the conference but recieved the higher seed thanks to the team's 4-3 victory in Winston-Salem Sept. 8.
The bracket pits the Blue Devils against N.C. State (6-9-1)-which lost to Duke, 4-1, Oct. 15-in the first round. The Wolfpack is seeded ninth, and defeated a pesky Virginia Tech team 4-3 Tuesday for the right to face Duke today at 2:30 p.m.
Should the Blue Devils advance, they could take on the Maryland Terrapins, who are seeded fourth and would benefit from a strong home crowd. Maryland defeated Duke, 1-0, in Germantown in the teams' only meeting this year.
"We're going to prepare for it like an away game," goalkeeper Justin Papadakis said about the potential semifinal matchup with the fifth-ranked Terrapins. "I'm sure they will have a great following. But after last year's losing to Creighton [in the NCAA Tournament], we don't take games for granted, and you have to win one to get to the next."
The other side of the bracket appears even more daunting, with Clemson and Virginia, both ranked in the top six nationally, playing in the first round. The other quarterfinal matches Wake Forest-which assumed the top ranking in the nation this week-and UNC, which currently sits at 19th in the polls.
"Every team in the ACC tournament is a quality team, so we are really going to have to bring our best effort in all the games," Papadakis said.
Despite the abundance of talented teams, Duke will look to continue its recent winning ways. The Blue Devils had won six straight games in October before that streak came to a halt against Clemson.
"We didn't have a great game at Clemson on the one hand," Rennie said. "On the other hand, they are a very good team. They beat Maryland at home and UNC at home, and they are a top-10 team."
Before the Clemson game, the Blue Devils had been dominant, outscoring their opponents 19-4 during the six-game stretch. Duke's defense was especially solid during the second half of the year, holding opponents to one goal or fewer in the last 12 contests.
"Our defense has been consistent since about the second game of the season, so that's going to be the key to the ACC and NCAA tournaments," Papadakis said. "The other teams are too good to be giving up a lot of goals, so I think that if we can keep them to a shutout or one goal, that's going to be necessary to do well."
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