Duke will host High Point Wednesday night at Koskinen Stadium in the Blue Devils’ last regular season game before the ACC tournament.
The Panthers (8-2) boast the nation’s seventh best scoring offense—featuring six players with at least 15 goals. No. 6 Duke (9-5) rebounded with a one-goal win over Boston College in its last matchup after dropping three straight games, all to ranked opponents.
“The biggest thing for us is putting into play a very fundamental unit-oriented gameplan tomorrow,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “Pretty basic, nothing special, just play really solid team defense. If we do that I think we’ll be successful and limit their looks.”
High Point might make the trip to Durham without its leading scorer, though. Sophomore Chelsea Thompson, who has registered 22 goals on the year, did not play in the Panthers’ win over conference-opponent Presbyterian Saturday.
Despite potentially missing their top offensive threat, High Point’s offensive balance could create defensive matchup problems for the Blue Devils. Duke allowed 11 goals by six different players Saturday against the Eagles.
“[The Panthers] do some things similar to Boston College,” Kimel said. “Thompson and [Grace] Gaeng do a lot of work together around the crease. Luckily we just played a great tandem in Boston College, and I thought we did a great job of negating some of their strengths.”
High Point’s dynamic offense will have to overcome a stingy Blue Devil defense, ranked 10th nationally in goals allowed per game. Duke’s defensive unit is led by senior goalkeeper Mollie Mackler, but also received a game-changing effort against Boston College from freshman standout Gabby Moise, who received ACC defensive player of the week honors for her performance against the Eagles.
With the recent return of senior midfielder Kat Thomas, the Blue Devil attack may be more potent than it has been all season. Thomas was Duke’s second leading scorer in the 2011 campaign but has missed most of the 2012 season due to a foot injury. Thomas scored a goal against Boston College in her first game back, and her experience should benefit the relatively young Blue Devil offense.
“[Thomas] clearly would be like a pre-season first team All-American type of player,” Kimel said. “She’s been practicing for two weeks, and she probably felt a little bit shaky, but you’re going to feel that way. It was a big ACC game and Boston College is much better than their record indicates. She scored a goal and had a big caused turnover at the end of the game.”
With just five weeks left until the opening round of the NCAA tournament, Kimel expects that her team can improve just as much as it did in its five-week preseason training in the fall. Coming off an important victory, the second phase of Duke’s postseason preparation and growth process continues Wednesday.
“Our performances as of late have been somewhat inconsistent,” Kimel said. “It’s either we play stronger in one half or the other, the defense plays great and the attack doesn’t, the attack plays great and the defense doesn’t. I think for us there is going to be a huge focus put on playing a full 60 minutes.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.