After playing their last five games against higher-ranked conference foes, the Blue Devils will look to rely on their back line experience to guide them through the postseason.
In a rematch of a March 26 11-8 Duke victory at Koskinen Stadium, the fourth-seeded Blue Devils will face No. 5 seed Virginia Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va. Although Duke is the higher-seeded of the two teams in the ACC tournament, the Cavaliers still rank better nationally—No. 15 compared to the Blue Devils at No. 17.
To advance to the conference tournament semifinals, the Blue Devils will have to regroup after losing three of their last four games since last month's win against Virginia. Duke will also need to slow down one of the hottest teams in the ACC—Virginia comes into the contest having won four of its last five matches, including a victory against No. 7 Louisville. But after last season's Final Four run, the Blue Devils recognize that the postseason brings the chance to overcome their late-season struggles.
"It’s a great opportunity for us for start with a clean slate,” captain Izzy Montagne said. “A lot of our exciting wins and tough losses have come in the ACC, and the opportunity to face these teams again and battle for the ACC championship is exciting.”
Montagne, fellow defensive partner Claire Scarrone and star goaltender Kelsey Duryea have been anchors for a unit ranked 27th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 8.38 goals per game. But the back line was gashed in Duke’s last regular-season contest, a 16-8 loss to rival No. 3 North Carolina last Saturday. In the Blue Devils' regular season matchup against Virginia, though, Duryea turned in a marquee performance with a 12-save effort.
Montagne acknowledged that both teams have completely changed since that contest about a month ago.
“We’ve really grown on both sides of the ball. I think that’s attributed to our competition in practice,” she said. “Each unit values pushing to improve and challenging [the other] at all of our practices. I think that we’ve really held onto aspects of our game both defensively and attack-wise on UVA, and are just trying to grow every day in the areas that we originally struggled.”
Montagne and the rest of the imposing Blue Devil defense will be tasked with stopping a Cavalier attack led by Kasey Behr and Posey Valis—Virginia’s two players who have scored at least 30 goals this season. In the second half of the first matchup between the two teams, both Behr and Valis found success, with the duo combining for six of the Cavaliers’ eight tallies.
On the other side of the field, Virginia goaltender Rachel Vander Kolk looks to rebound from a subpar showing in Durham—a game in which she saved only three of Duke’s 14 shots on goal. The Blue Devils (9-7, 4-3 in the ACC) cannot expect another subpar performance from Vander Kolk, who sported a 41.2 save percentage during the regular season.
For Duke, the usual suspects provided the scoring in the team's March win, with Kyra Harney, Kelci Smesko and Maddie Crutchfield—the Blue Devils' top three scorers—accounting for all but one of Duke's goals. But opponents have dialed in on the trio recently, changing the dynamic of the Blue Devil offense and opening holes for Maddy Acton, Olivia Jenner and Grace Fallon to increase their production down the stretch.
For both teams, the contest has larger implications than just advancing to the second round of the ACC tournament. Virginia (9-7, 3-4) and Duke are on the NCAA tournament bubble, and a win would solidify one team's chance to compete for the NCAA championship.
“Both of us have been in this position before…We both really feel like we need a win to secure ourselves for the NCAA tournament. It’s somewhere we’ve been before in the last five or six years,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “We’re all in a different place, and Virginia is too. I expect it to be a good battle.”
Ali Wells contributed reporting.
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