The Blue Devils have not had success against top-ranked opponents this season, and a 15-10 loss April 4 against the Fighting Irish was no different. But with the conference tournament comes a different game in a different week with a different mentality.
No. 6 Duke will take the six-hour bus ride north to PPL Park in Chester, Pa., before finals week to face off against No. 1 Notre Dame in the opening round of the 2015 ACC tournament Friday at 5:30 p.m. Although the fourth-seeded Blue Devils just squeaked into ACC postseason play with a 15-8 win against Virginia April 12, they will have to come prepared for a rematch against the top-seeded Fighting Irish.
“[The loss to Notre Dame] was three weeks ago,” Duke head coach John Danowski said. “We have lived a lot of life in the last three weeks. This game is the next game. It’s the next opportunity to play.”
After a grueling three-game stretch in seven days with extensive travel and just one true practice in that span, Duke (10-4) is looking to continue its winning ways Friday. Since suffering a three-game losing streak, including April's matchup against Notre Dame (9-1), the Blue Devils have gone on a tear, winning three straight and outscoring their opponents 47-27.
“After that loss to Notre Dame we really challenged ourselves to really dig down and fight and I think that we needed to know that we had to play together also to win,” junior midfielder Deemer Class said. “It’s obviously taken some time—road bumps along the way—but that’s how the season is.”
The Fighting Irish are riding high with momentum of their own, however. In a recent matchup against then-No. 2 North Carolina to decide the top-seed in the ACC tournament, Notre Dame rallied from a 14-12 deficit with 2:19 remaining to best the Tar Heels 15-14. It marked the first time since Duke went 3-0 in 2011 that a team finished ACC play undefeated.
Even with the experience against the Fighting Irish under their belt, the Blue Devils are going to have to find a way to defend the two-headed attack of senior Conor Doyle and junior Matt Kavanagh. In the first matchup, the two attackmen provided much of the firepower for Notre Dame, scoring three goals apiece. Kavanagh—who was recently named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week and has a team-high 43 points—will provide a challenge once again for Duke Friday.
On the other end of the field, sophomore goalkeeper Shane Doss was a thorn in the Blue Devils’ side as well, registering a career-high 17 saves. If Duke hopes to advance to the championship Sunday, it will have to find a way to get the ball past the ACC’s leader in save percentage at a 56.2 percent clip.
“We’re looking forward to Notre Dame and we’re really excited to really test ourselves against the No. 1 team in the country,” Class said. “It’s going to be a great challenge, coming off the loss to them earlier in the year where we feel like we left some things on the table. We’re definitely excited to see what we’ve got going into tomorrow.”
Duke boasts a talented offense in its own right, as Class and fellow junior midfielder Myles Jones as well as senior defenseman Will Haus were selected to the All-ACC Team for the Blue Devils this past week. Although Danowski emphasizes the value of playing together as a team, the honor is indicative of how well Duke is beginning to perform on the field together this season despite its youth and lack of experience compared to recent years.
“[Myles Jones and Deemer Class] exceeded our expectations because they don’t have the same supporting cast they had last year,” Danowski said. “As their supporting cast has gotten better—Jack Bruckner playing attack for the first time, Justin Guterding, Case Matheis getting healthy and our other midfielders—those guys have upped their game.”
Although individual accolades are noteworthy, they do not make up for the things that the Blue Devils left on the field against Notre Dame earlier in the season. By allowing the Fighting Irish to jump out to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter, Duke put itself in a hole and could not claw back. The focus heading into Friday is not necessarily on Notre Dame, but on improving from the loss and moving forward.
“You just want to continue to play, continue to be who you are,” Danowski said. “You have one eye on your opponent a little bit but the big eye is on your own team and getting better. Whether that’s individuals or groups—meaning offense or close defense or guys working together—those are the things that we are trying to focus on.”
If Duke is able to focus on improving and plays to its full potential, it could find itself in the championship game Sunday at 1 p.m. Either way, the winner of Friday’s game will line up across the field Sunday afternoon against the winner of No. 2 seed North Carolina and No. 3 seed Syracuse, who face off at 8 p.m. following the first matchup.
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