The last time the Blue Devils traveled to College Park, Md. Feb. 24, the Terrapins handed Duke its first loss of the season, a 15-6 rout in what had been a battle of undefeated ACC powerhouses.
Three months later, the Blue Devils (14-5) will have a second chance to give top-seeded Maryland (20-0) its first loss of the season, facing off in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament Saturday at 12 p.m. at Maryland's Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.
“Our first game of the year, we were not aggressive enough playing them at all,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “We clearly got in a hole early against them, but I think we’ve evolved a lot since then so I’m looking forward to going up there and giving them a real challenge.”
In their matchup earlier this season, the Terrapins put the Blue Devils away early, building a 9-2 lead before the halftime whistle.
Replacing senior Kaitlin Gaiss in the cage with freshman Kelsey Duryea, Duke opened the second half on a 4-1 run. Duryea, in her collegiate debut, saved eight shots but could not stop Maryland from scoring five goals in the last 10 minutes to secure the victory.
Starting all of Duke's 14 games since, Duryea has developed into one of the nation’s top netminders and ranks fourth in save percentage for the NCAA by stopping 51.4 percent of the shots she has faced.
The freshman is also coming off one of the Blue Devils’ best defensive performances of the season. Against eighth-seeded Navy last Sunday, Duryea made 10 saves and tied a season-low by allowing just five goals. Duke also held the Midshipmen scoreless for a 41-minute stretch in the second-round match—just two days after the Blue Devils held Princeton scoreless through an overtime period and a half to squeak away a victory last Friday night.
“The tough games that we’ve played have taught us a lot about ourselves as a team and prepared us for where we are now,” Duryea said. “Coming off beating Navy and Princeton is really good for us. We have that momentum that we need to go up to Maryland and play as a team and use everything that we’ve learned so far this season and win.”
Duryea’s development will be particularly important for Duke this weekend against the Terrapins, who rank third in scoring average nationally and are led by senior Alex Aust, who ranks second in points nationwide.
The Blue Devil squad that is traveling to College Park this weekend also differs from the one that made the trip three months ago in the way it approaches the game. Having played recently without two of its top five scorers, Duke has had to work on modifying its gameplan as each game unfolds.
“We’ve done a really good job, especially the latter half of the season, putting in as many new things, adjusting on the fly,” Kimel said. “We made tons of defensive adjustments throughout our game Friday and on Sunday.”
Since bowing out in the first round of the ACC Tournament to Virginia, the Blue Devils have succeeded in making in-game adjustments to win their last three contests.
“Our experience from last weekend has us feeling really good, really excited to go up to Maryland,” Kimel said. “We know it’s a challenge, but we have nothing to lose. They have not lost a game all year.”
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