Duke heads north for road test

With an all-time 11-0 record against Virginia Tech, including a 4-0 streak away from home, No. 6 Duke is looking to gain its fourth consecutive win and first ACC victory this season in a road contest against the Hokies.

After defeating two top-10 nonconference opponents last week, the Blue Devils (7-1, 0-1 in the ACC) are moving back to ACC play and setting their eyes on a win today at 4 p.m. in Blacksburg.

“It’s an ACC game, which means it’s a very important game, but the way we approach every game in the season is that the next game we play is the most important,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “We’ll be on the road, and we always expect Virginia Tech’s very best.”

Each team is coming to the match with one conference loss, and though the game will be in Hokie territory, Duke knows the playing field well.

“We spent four or five days last year in Blacksburg for the ACC tournament, and our kids are very familiar with staying in the same hotel and playing on the same field where we played three of our best games last year,” Kimel said. “I’m not worried about it being an away game. We travel pretty well.”

The Blue Devils and the Hokies (2-5, 0-1) have lost many players to graduation, particularly their leading scorers and goalies from last season, and both schools are looking to rebuild momentum for the remainder for the year.

Duke hopes to establish itself as a formidable opponent while moving further toward its goal of building team cohesion and growing together as a relatively young squad.

“We’re young in particular on the offensive side of the ball, and in every sense we’re trying to grow,” Kimel said. “Tomorrow won’t be any different for us. Virginia Tech has some new faces, but we have some familiarity with them because they’ve done some things in the past, and I’m particularly looking forward to our defensive play because [some Blue Devil defenders] have played this group in the past.”