Missing LDOC and T-Pain is the last thing Duke will think of this week.
After losing the conference regular-season crown in a heartbreaking defeat to No. 2 North Carolina 12-6 at Koskinen Stadium last Friday, the Blue Devils start their ACC tournament journey in Charlottesville, Va., Thursday.
Second-seeded Duke battles seventh-seeded Louisville in the ACC quarterfinals at 4 p.m. at Klockner Stadium. If the Blue Devils—ranked No. 4 in the nation—want to knock off the Cardinals, they need to avoid the mistakes they committed Friday night against the Tar Heels.
“The loss against UNC hurts because it was a loss to our rival,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “We gave up really easy goals at wrap points of the game that hurt our momentum and our confidence. To UNC’s credit, they played really tough defense. But we didn’t work very hard with or without the ball and we didn’t respond to what they were giving us on the field.”
Four seniors pace the offense for Duke (13-2, 5-2 in the ACC) this year, as Kerrin Maurer, Brigid Smith, Taylor Trimble and Katie Trees have combined for 112 goals and 60 assists in 15 games. Freshman attacker Kyra Harney adds 26 tallies and 11 assists as well. Defensively, junior goalkeeper Kelsey Duryea averages 6.93 saves and 7.08 goals against per game.
Louisville (10-6, 2-5) enters the ACC tournament averaging 13.25 goals per contest. Junior midfielder Kaylin Morrissette is the team’s top facilitator, with 14 assists and fourth striker with 41 scores. Duke’s defense will have to pay particular attention to attackers Hannah Koloski and Faye Burst, and midfielder Cortnee Daley—the three Cardinals have combined for 138 goals this season.
“They have really strong midfielders and attackers, so we need to slow down their good ball movement,” Duryea said. “We can’t let them dictate the pace. As a defensive unit, we also have to be adaptable and keep our communication up.”
The Cardinals’ strongest offensive point is draw control, as they totaled 246 on the year—with Morrissette capturing 168 of them. Defensively, Louisville allows 9.19 goals per game led by goalkeeper Ashley Peacock, who has totaled 95 saves in her sophomore campaign.
“The draw control will be very important,” Kimel said. “They have [Morrissette] who has more than 100 controls. She’s fantastic at it. So we’ve got to make sure that we gain possession effectively. Also, the last time we played against Louisville, we didn’t shoot particularly well so we have to make sure that our ball movement is back in play and that we shoot better.”
Thursday’s contest will be the second clash between Blue Devils and Cardinals in less than six weeks. Duke beat then-No.12 Louisville 10-8 March 14 in their regular-season matchup thanks to a solid performance by Harney and seniors Erin Tenneson, Maurer and Trimble—who registered a season-high four tallies.
Trimble, fed by Maurer, broke the deadlock 80 seconds after the opening faceoff, but an unassisted goal by Morrissette tied the game just a few minutes later.
Despite two more goals to take a 3-1 lead, the Blue Devils saw the Cardinals edge ahead 4-3 with 9:11 to play in the first half. Harney and Smith, however, notched one goal apiece, sending the Blue Devils to the locker room with a 5-4 lead.
Maurer tallied her second unassisted goal of the day two minutes into the second half, but Louisville responded with a 3-0 run in three and a half minutes to take a 7-6 lead. Trimble’s free position goal, and Tenneson’s unassisted score gave the lead back to Duke with 12:03 left. Two minutes later, Morrissette tied the clash for the sixth time, but Trimble and Harney secured Duke’s win in the last eight minutes with one goal each.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.