As the weather warms up and the season begins to wind down, the Blue Devils are fighting for their ACC postseason lives as they return to the field this weekend.
No. 7 Duke will look to right the ship at noon Sunday in its final conference matchup of the year against No. 6 Virginia at Koskinen Stadium. After dropping three straight games for the first time since 2004, the Blue Devils are in a must-win situation if they want to play for the right to be called ACC champions for the first time since 2012. With a loss, the two-time defending national champions will not secure a spot in the four-team ACC tournament field and will have to play Pennsylvania in a consolation match instead.
“We would like a chance to compete for the ACC championship and this is the way that you do it,” Duke head coach John Danowski said.
Duke (7-4, 0-3 in the ACC) and Danowski have a history against the Cavaliers (8-3, 0-3) that suggests this is the team that they want to face in a win-or-go-home situation. Since Danowski’s arrival in Durham in 2007, the Blue Devils are 13-1 against Virginia, including an undefeated 8-0 record in the regular season.
“I can’t really explain [the record] but I do know that we respect them so much,” Danowski said. “They’re like the blue bloods of lacrosse…. You want to play really well against them and you know that they have this great tradition and talent. They get some of the best players year after year.”
In order to secure the victory, however, Duke will have to get the ball past one of the top goalies in the nation. Cavalier sophomore Matt Barrett enters the matchup with a 56.5 save percentage and the third most saves nationally with 144. Barrett has stopped shots from all angles at a high volume throughout the season, including three games against Syracuse, Cornell and North Carolina—all teams ranked in the top ten—in which he combined for 59 saves.
Considering the success that Notre Dame's Shane Doss had last week in goal against the Blue Devils—the sophomore stopped a career-high 17 shots—the team will have to find a way to get the ball into the back of the net this week if it hopes to grab its first win in ACC play.
Taking a page out of Duke men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s book, Danowski said he thinks his team just has to be confident and continue to shoot in order to get the results.
“You’ve got to shoot it with confidence, and you’ve got to shoot with no regrets,” Danowski said. “You’ve got to let it fly. Just as Coach K would tell his shooters, ‘You’ve got to shoot to get hot and you’ve got to keep on shooting.’ It’s the same thing here. We’ve got to let the ball fly and see what happens.”
Letting it fly should not be a problem for the Blue Devils against the Cavaliers. In 11 contests this season, Duke is outshooting its opponents 510-416—an advantage of more than two shots per game. Junior midfielder Myles Jones leads the team with 92 shots and freshman attackman Justin Guterding ranks second with 84. The duo will look to carry the team against Virginia after combining for just 10 goals in the past three games.
On the other side of the field, the Cavaliers will also look to utilize their best two offensive weapons to overcome any firepower the Blue Devils may throw their way. Junior midfielder Greg Coholan and sophomore attackman Ryan Lukacovic pose a threat on offense that could give the home squad problems.
Coholan is averaging the 10th-most points per game in the ACC with 3.4 and Lukacovic is close behind, averaging 3.1 points per contest. Both will present difficult matchups for Duke’s defense, but Danowski was quick to point out that his team will be playing against an entire offensive unit Sunday, not just one or two players.
“We never look at matchups, either offensively or defensively, because we are team-oriented,” Danowski said. “We don’t look to shut one guy down in particular as we look—seven of our guys, including the goalie—to defend their six guys. That’s the way we approach the game.”
With the high stakes on the line, the Blue Devils will have to show up as a unit to stymie the Virginia offense. Despite its recent skid, Duke is still playing to extend its season and is hungry to get the opportunity to fight for an ACC title. The level of competition week in and week out presents an opportunity to build and improve as a program as the season progresses.
“We have lost to three teams who are in the top three or four in the country and that’s not a bad thing,” Danowski said. “We are lining up against the best people…. I think we need to learn from that.”
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