No. 16 Duke got a pleasant break from its typically challenging ACC schedule Wednesday when it whipped overmatched Presbyterian in a leisurely stroll of a soccer game.
Saturday, Virginia Tech is sure to provide a tougher test than did the Blue Hose.
When the Hokies visit Koskinen Stadium tomorrow at 7 p.m., crucial points in the ACC standings will be on the line. With three wins in conference, Duke (11-4-0, 3-3-0 in the ACC) has nine points, which puts the team in a three-way tie for fourth place. Virginia Tech comes in second from the bottom in the standings with just six points, but a Hokie win Saturday would put the two teams in a tie near the foot of the table, a situation Duke is eager to avoid.
Depending on goal differential, the Blue Devils could conceivably fall below the Hokies with just a single conference game remaining before the ACC tournament begins in Cary, N.C. in early November.
“If we don’t win the game on Saturday, they can leapfrog us in the ACC standings, and that’s something we don’t want to happen,” head coach John Kerr said. “If we do win, we have a chance to be in third place in the standings. It’s all very close, so we want to make sure we’re on the right side of the scoreline Saturday night.”
Virginia Tech (5-9-2, 2-4-0) has struggled this season both in and out of conference, but the Hokies enter the contest with Duke just as the Blue Devils do, having just beaten a low-level team comfortably. What Duke did Wednesday to Presbyterian, Virginia Tech did to Longwood in a 5-1 win the night before.
More interesting, though, is the Hokies’ 1-0 win over Davidson Oct. 20. Just days after beating then-No. 2 Maryland Oct. 2, Duke played the Wildcats on the road and got beaten badly, losing 4-1. Virginia Tech also beat N.C. State, which defeated Duke earlier this season.
Although the Blue Devil players aren’t thinking about this week’s game in terms of the loss to Davidson, they do realize its magnitude looking ahead to the postseason.
“We definitely need to win and that way stay high in the RPI,” freshman Andrew Wenger said Wednesday.
To continue its four-game winning streak, Duke will turn to a balanced scoring attack that it has relied on all year. Freshman Ryan Finley and junior Cole Grossman lead the team with a combined 16 goals, but nine other players have also scored.
The Blue Devil defense should be able to handle a Virginia Tech offense that has struggled this year, as no player on the team has scored even five goals. But Duke has already lost to teams it thinks it should have beaten this year, and expects that streak to end on Halloween against the Hokies.
Danny Vinik contributed reporting to this story.
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