Following an unexpected two-week break from play, the Blue Devils are set to get back to action this weekend.
After last weekend’s scheduled matchup against Stony Brook was cancelled due to weather, Duke is set to continue its season with two home games this weekend at Koskinen Stadium, first against No. 13 Harvard Saturday at noon and then Sunday at 5 p.m. against Providence.
The Crimson are the Blue Devils' first big test since their loss to No. 1 Denver two weeks ago. This game, however, is more about continuing to improve at this early point in the season than picking up a victory.
“At this time of year, again, it’s still so early,” head coach John Danoski said. “It’s about still trying to get better each week. Not that you’re trying to look past your opponent because you’re not, but most teams would say that ‘Hey listen man, we just got to work on us’.”
Harvard has only played one game this season, defeating Massachusetts 14-13, so Duke does not have a lot of material to work with in scouting the Crimson. Luckily, Harvard is a familiar opponent for the team. This is the fourth straight year in which the two squads have matched up, and it is a game that the Blue Devils look forward to putting on the schedule every year, for both lacrosse and academic purposes.
“Harvard, certainly some would say is the preeminent academic institution in the Milky Way, and so I’d like to think the students at Duke think we can try to hold our own with the students at Harvard,” Danowski said. “They’re a great program and they’re really well coached.”
While Duke has defeated the Crimson in their past three meetings, the reigning Ivy League Champions will come to Durham with a different squad from last year’s team, especially in the midfield where seven seniors graduated. While they have lost a significant number of key players in the midfield, they do return a number of key starters on defense, including goalie Jake Gambitsky and All-American defender Brian Fischer.
Following their game against the Crimson, the Blue Devils will face off against Providence. The two teams have met just once before this matchup, when Duke defeated the Friars 18-3 in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Championships.
With the Blue Devils playing Providence the day after their Harvard game, they will not have the opportunity to prepare much for this game, creating a unique situation.
“These games are always so much fun,” Danowski said. “It’s so much less about scouting report and preparation as it is about just about playing and about being spontaneous and being able to make quick decisions about your opponent and about yourself.”
While some teams may find it disadvantageous to schedule games so close together and schedule so many games early on in the season, Duke sees it as the opposite.
“We’ll be six games being more experienced than we were [at the start of the season], Danowski said. “For this team, because we’re so young, we needed to play, and that’s still the theme.”
Although winning may not be the priority for coach Danowski and his Blue Devils, if the team is able to pick up where it left off before its two-week break, they should come away with two more victories.
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