Technically, tonight's matchup with North Carolina is a home game for Duke.
But the Blue Devils know Koskinen Stadium won't quite be Koskinen Stadium when the match starts at 7 p.m.
"It's definitely going to hurt having the UNC game on Fall Break," senior forward Mike Grella said. "The home crowd is a huge factor.... It's a huge help for us. It makes the game a lot more enjoyable for everybody, but especially the players. It really gives us a strong push to beat UNC."
The crowd will likely be less than the 6,549 who watched Duke's 1-0 victory over the Tar Heels in 2006. But the Blue Devils (6-3-1, 2-1-1 in the ACC) will feed off whatever fans shows up, even if a majority of them end up wearing a lighter shade of blue.
And in any case, Duke is not about to come out flat against No. 16 North Carolina (8-2-1, 1-2).
"That's a little bizarre, but we're not going to have any trouble getting up for a game like this regardless," senior co-captain Graham Dugoni said. "There will be people here just because it's Duke-Carolina, and we'll be just as amped up to play."
The Blue Devils can't afford to come out of the gate slowly, as they did in a 1-0 double-overtime win against Boston College Oct. 3. With the low-scoring nature of the rivalry-there hasn't been a game with more than one goal since 2004, and Duke lost to North Carolina 1-0 twice in 2007-a mistake in the first few minutes could decide the outcome.
Then again, the days of one-goal Duke-North Carolina games could be a thing of the past. With head coach John Kerr bringing a more attack-oriented offense to Durham, the Blue Devils hope to score early and often.
"I don't think we'll let it be a 0-0 draw this time," Grella said. "I think we'll really attack and we'll really put pressure on them, especially since they're on our field. I think it'll be a little bit different this year.
"I haven't scored on them since the [2005] ACCs, since that penalty shot in the final, and so I would love to score on them in regulation more than once. I would love to do that, not only for my team, but for myself."
And considering what's at stake-a chance to move closer to first place in the ACC, to build upon the momentum gained in the win over the Eagles and, more than anything else, to have Triangle bragging rights-all eyes, however many there are, will be on Grella and the suddenly surging Blue Devils.
"Every [Duke-UNC] game, every tackle, every loose ball means a lot," said Kerr, who went 2-2 against North Carolina as a Blue Devil between 1983 and 1986. "With the crowd being there, you're always on your toes and you feel that you have to be at your best because there are people watching you."
Friday's match might make one of the best college rivalries, as Grella said, into something more significant. Both teams have more than simply bragging rights at stake.
"This is a huge game," Grella said. "It's not going to make or break our season, but this is a huge game in terms of, all right, are we really going to make a run for it, or are we going to just be a pretty average team?"
"A win here would be huge for us," Dugoni said. "There's nothing sweeter than beating Carolina."
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