Despite losing star center back and redshirt junior Ashley Rape for the remainder of the season, the Blue Devils are quickly returning to form. After falling to Auburn 1-0 last Friday, No. 10 Duke (5-1) bounced back two days later with a 1-0 win over Ole Miss. Although Duke’s performance was far from perfect, defensive issues, which seemed likely after the loss of Rape, seemed to have been addressed and the offense continued to create dangerous chances on goal. The team returns to Koskinen Stadium for this weekend’s Duke/Nike Classic, playing Texas A&M (3-3) Friday and UNC-Greensboro (1-3) Sunday.
“We’re five and one,” head coach Robbie Church said, “and we’ve only had two home games. That’s a great statement these days when it’s so hard to get wins on the road. It was good to play in these environments. Sunday at Auburn, with 2,000 people hollering, that was just like an ACC game.”
At least initially, the loss to unranked Auburn signaled future problems for the Blue Devils. Duke had just come off an emotional victory over then-No. 1 Notre Dame, but also witnessed its leader on the back line, Rape, being carried off the field. Understandably, the Blue Devils’ defense was in question, and the loss to Auburn added weight to these concerns. As Church pointed out, however, the final score was not reflective of Duke’s performance.
“We dominated the game,” he said, “but we didn’t finish. We also had a 15-minute spell in the second half where we didn’t play well and gave up a set-play goal.”
The Auburn game highlighted the Blue Devils’ main challenges thus far in the season. Besides trying to fill the defensive gap created by Rape’s absence, the team also has to work on creating higher quality chances and finishing. Against Auburn, Duke outshot its opponent 20-10. This has been a common trend throughout the season, with the Blue Devils averaging 18 shots a game to their opponents’ seven. Only about 40 percent of the Blue Devil shots are on goal, however, almost 20 percentage points lower than their early-season foes. This will have to change in order for the team to have success this weekend.
Texas A&M dropped completely out of the rankings after starting the season at No. 11, but has since shown signs of its potential. The Aggies cruised past Dartmouth last Friday, winning 3-0, and embarrassed McNeese State earlier this week in a 9-0 rout. Texas A&M will look to continue its impressive play against Duke this Friday. The two teams have played four times with the most recent matchup coming in 2007, and the Aggies lead the all-time series 3-1.
“Texas A&M is one of the premier programs in the country,” Church said. “Year in year out, they’ve been one of the top ten teams [in the country]. They’ve got a lot of younger players this year, but [they are still] a very talented team. They’re going to be a great test.”
Despite the rapidly-improving talent from College Station, UNC-Greensboro is not to be ignored. Picked to win the Southern Conference for the seventh consecutive year, the team lost a trio of tough matches against Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Tennessee earlier this season. Still, the Spartans are coming off a 19-win season—which matched the school record—last year. Under the direction of new head coach Steve Nugent, the team will look to finally break through and get its first big win of the season against Duke on Sunday.
“It’s amazing,” freshman Kelly Cobb said. “You can just feel the energy building up. It’s pretty much all I’ve been thinking about this week.... It’s going to be a great atmosphere out there.”
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