After dominating its opening weekend from the comfort of Koskinen Stadium, Duke will take its undefeated record on the road.
The No. 5 Blue Devils will face Richmond and William & Mary on a weekend trip to Virginia, beginning Friday with the Spiders and returning after their matchup with the Tribe Sunday. The two opponents have beaten Duke only four times combined since their first meetings in 1996.
“Both teams do very well…. I think what’s nice is that we have a lot of different people who can score,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “It’s early in the year, and I’m pleased that we’re scoring so much and so balanced.”
Richmond (1-0) will enter Friday's contest following its season-opening victory against Liberty. The Spiders tied for third in the Atlantic 10 conference in 2013 and return six starters, including juniors Emily Doyle and Anna Jeszeck. Doyle and Jeszeck combined for six of their team’s 16 goals against Liberty, with Doyle also contributing four assists for a team-high seven points on the day.
Senior Blue Devil Kerrin Maurer—who tops the charts for Duke with 11 goals and five assists in its first two games—will look to match Richmond's attack Friday. Behind Maurer's play, the Blue Devil offense has charged into the 2014 season, scoring 39 goals in two games.
“I know Kerrin had a really big weekend and she’s had a lot of scoring, but we had a lot of other good options,” Kimel said. “We can score within that group of six kids as well, and so we’re going to keep looking to develop that.”
Although Sunday will mark their 18th meeting, Duke (2-0) takes on a William & Mary team with an entirely revamped coaching staff. Head coach Hillary Fratzke took the reins for the Tribe after a three-season stint as assistant coach for Northwestern, where the Wildcats clinched a semifinal appearance as well as back-to-back national titles.
Despite graduating its leading scorer following the 2013 season, the Tribe returns four members who scored double-digit goals last season.
On the defensive end, senior goalkeeper Colleen Nofi has the luxury of experience when it comes to facing off against Duke, as she was in the net last year when the Blue Devils came to town and notched a career-high 19 saves in a 15-8 loss. Welcoming Duke to Williamsburg for its season-opener, William & Mary will hope to break the Blue Devils' 14-game win streak against the Tribe come Sunday.
“[Sunday against Louisville] we learned what we need to do better and what we need to do more of and less of,” Kimel said. “William & Mary has a whole new coaching staff, so we’ll be going into that kind of a little bit blindly, ready to make adjustments on the fly.”
The trip is relatively short, but the weather on the road may make the team feel further north than they really are. The recent wintry conditions are expected to persist in Virginia throughout the weekend, raising a potential issue for the outdoor facilities at both schools.
After the weekend bout, the Blue Devils will return to Durham in preparation for a matchup against No. 4 Northwestern.
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