The past week has not gone quite according to plan for the Blue Devils in just the second month of the regular season, but with a tough top-10 matchup on the horizon, they cannot dwell on those results moving into the weekend.
Despite three setbacks in its first seven contests, No. 9 Duke will hit the road Saturday for the fourth straight weekend, looking to right the ship against No. 8 Loyola at Ridley Athletic Complex in Baltimore. The Blue Devils will look to take the 11 a.m. faceoff and notch their first win against the Greyhounds on the road since an 8-5 victory in 2010.
“Certainly a priority for us has been getting back to the basics, fundamentals, passing and catching, especially in the offensive end. And defensively, it would be the same thing,” Duke head coach John Danowski said. “At first, you’re really angry when you lose. You’ve got to get over your own personal anger of losing and then, once you do that, you have to really look at the film with your staff and say, ‘Okay, what aren’t we good at and where can we start to teach and rebuild?’”
After suffering back-to-back losses to then-No. 12 Harvard and an unranked Richmond squad, Duke (4-3) will look to return to its winning ways by replicating last year’s 14-8 victory at home against Loyola (4-1). But if the Blue Devils continue to remain streaky against their opponents, they could be looking at a .500 record at the end of the week.
In its last two contests, Duke has allowed stretches of goals that have put it behind the eight-ball and out of arm’s reach of a victory. Against the Crimson, the Blue Devils went scoreless for 30:36, allowing an 8-0 Harvard run spanning the second, third and fourth quarters that put the game away. Monday against the Spiders, Duke went cold for the final 15:41, allowing four consecutive goals to help ensure its first home loss to an unranked opponent since 2009.
Against the Greyhounds—whose lone loss came against then-No. 11 Towson—the Blue Devils will have to shake off their slumps and find the back of the net to have a chance at the victory.
“The hardest part is, like a lot of sports…it starts with defense. You need possession of the ball,” Danowski said. “Defensively, we’ve got to get stops. We stop the other team [and] we clear the ball effectively, it puts the offensive guys in position to do what they do best. You play good defensive, that gives you offensive opportunities. You’re good off the ground, that gives you offensive opportunities.”
One of the biggest issues with allowing runs is that Duke has seemed passive in the fourth quarter compared to its opponents. In the final frame this season, the Blue Devils have been outscored 23-21 and outshot on goal 51-33. In two of the team’s three losses, Danowski’s squad never led in the final period, and relinquished three straight fourth-quarter tallies against Richmond as the Spiders erased a late 10-9 lead.
Loyola will look to take advantage of Duke’s misfortunes in closing games by replicating its own fourth-quarter successes. The Greyhounds have outshot opponents 54-42 in the final period, and hold a one-shot advantage on goal in five games this season.
“I think we’ve played really tight [in the fourth quarter],” Danowski said. “[There’s] this sense of ‘I have to live up to those other teams’ and the guys carry that burden with them a little bit. That’s hard to coach that out of people. This is your team, this is your time, this is not [2014, 2013 or 2010], this is not those teams, but that is easier said than done…. It’s hard to relax for them right now and I think that losing in the first round of the playoffs last year has compounded that. They feel the pressure.”
Throughout the game, Loyola will look to exploit the Blue Devil defense by spreading out its offensive attack and speeding up the game. Although Patriot League Rookie of the Week Pat Spencer—a freshman attackman—leads his squad in points, assists and is second in goals scored, the Greyhounds had nine different players find the back of the net against Holy Cross last time out and have nine players with three or more goals this season.
“[Loyola’s] got some really talented offensive players. They have a freshman who is their leading scorer who’s a very good lacrosse player complemented with a Canadian, a left-handed player. They’ve got some real athletic people at midfield in Romar Dennis and [Brian] Sherlock and those people—[Tyler] Albrecht,” Danowski said. “Every time out you have to defend all six and you have to play the right way. I think we’re still learning to do that.”
In order to stop the onslaught from Loyola’s balanced attack, Duke will look to Kyle Rowe to exploit the Greyhounds’ meager 49.1 percent clip at the faceoff X by continuing his streak of faceoff victories this season. If the junior can win possession at midfield—he is 59-of-96 with a team-high 35 ground balls—then the Blue Devils can move the ball to red-hot attackman Justin Guterding—who leads the team with 17 goals and 14 assists—to finish between the pipes.
And just like the last two championship runs in Durham—Duke started 2-4 in 2013 before rattling off 14 wins in 15 games and hit a two-game skid in early March in 2014 before grabbing its third title in May—the Blue Devils will look to piece the puzzle together and get back in the win column moving forward.
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