After Duke's hard-fought 7-6 overtime win against then-No. 2 Virginia April 15, an emotional letdown for the final regular season game before the ACC tournament was almost expected.
The Blue Devils played a below-average game Saturday but still recorded an 11-5 win over Army. To win this weekend's ACC championships at Koskinen Stadium, however, they will have to return to the top form they displayed against the Cavaliers.
No. 2 Duke (11-2, 3-0 in the ACC), the conference's top seed, will take on No. 9 North Carolina (9-4, 0-3) Friday at 8:30 p.m. Koskinen will also host a matchup between Virginia and No. 8 Maryland immediately preceding the Blue Devils' game, and the two games' winners play Sunday at 3:30.
Duke and UNC met once before this season, in Chapel Hill on March 17. The Blue Devils came out 9-7 winners despite falling behind by five goals early in the game. Trailing 6-1, Duke closed the score to 6-5 after goals by Matt Danowski, Max Quinzani, Zack Greer, and Brad Ross. Later in the second half, with UNC leading 7-6, Danowski scored two more goals to give the Blue Devils a lead they would not relinquish.
"I remember [UNC] was kicking our butts and it was 6-1," John Danowski said. "If we made a mistake, they took advantage, and in the second half we did a nice job, but they really worked at it early, and we have to be prepared for that."
Since that victory, Duke has gone 5-1 while facing five opponents ranked in the top 15 nationally. The team's lone loss in that stretch came against No. 1 Cornell, the nation's only undefeated team.
Recently, the Blue Devils have been winning thanks in large part to their defense. Led by Casey Carroll and others, Duke's long-stickmen have been able to limit turnovers in the middle of the field, scoop up ground balls, and keep the number of shots allowed to a minimum.
"Our defense has been playing fundamentally well," senior defenseman Tony McDevitt said. "We are finally buying into a system and playing as a unit, seven against six all the time including the goalie, so we pride ourselves on that."
Nonetheless, the Blue Devils have struggled getting goals, especially during six-on-six play. Many of the goals the team has scored, including two against Army, have come in transition resulting from a turnover by an opposing player. An indicator of Duke's scoring troubles is the team's failure to score more than 12 goals in eight of its last nine contests, with the only exception an 18-goal explosion against unranked Bellarmine March 31.
If the Blue Devils advance to Sunday's championship game, they would face a rematch with either the Cavaliers or Terrapins, whom Duke defeated comfortably very early in the season. This team, though, is not looking past archrival UNC.
"[North Carolina is] a tough team, they pressure the ball defensively, and they are a strong offensive group as well, so we have to bring our 'A game' if we want to play Sunday," McDevitt said.
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