Unlike most seasons, Duke has had more to adjust to in the early going this year than just roster turnover. With the introduction of a 90-second shot clock, teams across the country are looking to use their early-season matchups as a way to fine-tune their offenses.
The Blue Devils will have two more opportunities to do just that this weekend.
No. 10 Duke will host Furman Friday at 3 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium before returning to their home turf Sunday at 11 a.m. to take on Navy. Although the Blue Devils are ultimately looking to notch two more wins under their belt, Duke is also hoping to get off to a quicker start after struggling early in a 9-7 win against Drexel last weekend.
“With the shot clock now, people are going to play zone defenses to make it hard for you to score, especially knowing that we have really good dodgers,” Blue Devil head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “They’re going to force you to have to beat them in a different way, a different way than we want to score.”
Duke (1-0) had trouble adapting in the early minutes of its season opener against the Dragons. Feeling pressured by the shot clock, the Blue Devils unnecessarily rushed the ball in transition and allowed the Drexel defense to force turnovers in the midfield. With 8:37 to go in the first half, the Dragons had amassed a 6-3 lead and looked poised to continue pulling away.
But from that point on, Duke turned up the heat. The Blue Devils scored six goals—five of which went unanswered until the 12:42 mark of the second half—in the remaining 38 minutes while holding Drexel to just one.
“We were looking to push tempo with the shot clock and not having a lot of success in the first half,” Kimel said. “It forced us to settle down. You can’t let it rush you. You have to get yourself organized in your offense. We did a better job of that in the second half.”
Duke’s early offensive woes were not exclusively transition related. Since the shot clock forces offenses to get a good look quickly, teams have countered with zone defenses. Playing in their first game of the year, the Blue Devils needed some time to figure out how to work around the Dragons' zone and build a rhythm on offense.
Duke will face similar challenges in its contests this weekend. The Paladins—who will be making their season debut Friday—were picked to finish third in the Atlantic Sun Conference and had three players selected to the all-conference team, including preseason Defensive Player of the Year Samantha Eckels.
Two days later, the Blue Devils will have to account for Midshipman junior Blake Smith, who earned Patriot League Defender of the Week honors after forcing four turnovers and recovering four ground balls in Navy’s first game of the season.
“We’re going to see a lot of zone defenses,” Kimel said. “Our ability to execute well against a variety of different zone defenses is going to have to improve moving forward.”
Although Duke's defense was the highlight of the team's first win, the Blue Devils will have to handle a Furman offense that averaged 25.2 shots and 11.5 goals per game a year ago. Senior Ashley Trice scored a team-high 49 goals last season and classmate Paige Gamble contributed 32 goals and 30 assists of her own.
Duke will also need to contain the explosive Midshipman attack that tallied 20 goals off of 39 shot attempts in its last game. Junior Julia Collins was tabbed Patriot League Attacker of the Week for her four goal, one assist performance in Navy's win and sits at 14th all-time in career points for the Midshipmen (1-0). After shutting down Drexel’s strongest offensive weapon Sunday, senior Blue Devil defender Maura Schwitter will likely be tasked with limiting Collins’ looks this weekend.
“Maura [Schwitter] did a great job shutting off number 10, who is [the Dragons’] top returning player,” Kimel said. “Our defenders really locked down and made it tough for them to get the looks they were working for.”
One of Duke’s strengths Sunday was its 13-4 ledger on draw controls. In addition to organizing their offense and better penetrating zone defenses, the Blue Devils will look to translate more transition opportunities into goals after winning the draw.
Duke will use this weekend to sure up all of these aspects of its game before heading into the core of its schedule. Just less than a week after their contest against Navy, the Blue Devils will travel to Frisco, Texas to face No. 12 Stanford before heading into conference play.
“We dominated the draw for the most part but didn’t have a lot of transition points to show for it, so I think that has to be a focus,” Kimel said. “But we have our first game under the belt, and we have a long road until May.”
Mitchell Gladstone contributed reporting.
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