Last Saturday against then-No. 18 Georgetown, Duke won its fourth straight game. But in three of those games, the No. 8 Blue Devils (7-3) nearly coughed up large fourth-quarter leads before hanging on for the victory.
Against Brown (3-3) today at 3 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium, that should not be a problem. The Bears’ three wins have come against teams that are a combined 5-18, and they surrendered 20 goals in a blowout loss to Hartford, which currently sits at 3-6.
Although this is a game Duke is expected to win without trouble, as it did against Dartmouth—the one game in the win streak that was never in doubt—the game is vital to the Blue Devils’ development in other key areas. With only four games remaining before the ACC tournament, including a showdown with No. 14 Syracuse in the Big City Classic looming this Sunday, Duke does not have much time to figure out the issues that have prevented this team from reaching its full potential.
The Blue Devils were ranked second nationwide to start the season, but have struggled to close games. Duke has been outscored in the fourth quarter by a margin of 26-18 on the year, including a 17-3 deficit on its latest four-game win streak. So far, this disparity has not had an effect on the wins column, but the team is concerned nonetheless.
“I thought we lost poise,” head coach John Danowski said of Georgetown’s 5-0 fourth-quarter run Saturday. “We did the same thing against North Carolina and against Harvard. We don’t know why. You can have theories, but until you can climb into somebody’s head, you’re not sure.... We talk about perhaps the psychological reasons. We try to get the guys to be really honest with themselves and to admit if they’re afraid or scared or nervous or tight or whatever.”
The team’s inconsistency quarter-to-quarter has mirrored the merry-go-round in net for the Blue Devils.
While junior Dan Wigrizer leads the team with a cumulative save percentage of . 533, he has saved fewer than half the shots he faced in three of the five games he has played. Although he was playing on short practice time in his return to the goal against Loyola, his worst outing, he saved only 45 percent of the shots he faced in the team’s most recent match against the Hoyas.
Mike Rock, the team’s next option in net, has been more consistent than Wigrizer at protecting the goal—he saved at least half the shots he faced in five of his six games—but he has not had any spectacular performances and has struggled clearing the ball.
Freshman Kyle Turri is at the opposite extreme. He has no turnovers on the year, but he has saved just 42 percent of the shots he has faced. For now, the job remains Wigrizer’s to lose.
“Danny didn’t really do anything to lose his job except get a concussion,” Danowski said. “We can win with all three of them.... I’ve never had a season in my coaching lifetime where I’ve won with three different goalies... so it’s unusual. [But] if that’s what we have, then so be it.”
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