The Blue Devils find themselves at a crossroads halfway through the regular season.
Duke head coach John Kerr has called this one of his most talented teams ever, and the Blue Devils flashed their potential with an upset at then-No. 9 UCLA and a 2-0-1 start to the campaign.
But Duke has faltered since, winning just one of its last five games and suffering a deflating double-overtime loss on an own goal to Georgia State Tuesday night.
The Blue Devils will travel to Raleigh to take on N.C. State at 7 p.m. Friday at Dail Soccer Field looking to rebound after blowing a 1-0 halftime lead and losing to Georgia State for the first time ever. Duke’s offensive struggles continued Tuesday when the Blue Devils were unable to convert on eight second-half shot attempts, and things went from bad to worse when Duke lost junior defender Kevon Black to a serious injury.
This lack of offense has plagued the Blue Devils of late—they have scored one goal or fewer in five of their last six games despite averaging more than 15 shots per contest.
“We need to regroup, it’s going to take a bit of a day or two to get ourselves organized, but again there are some good things and some good signs there,” Duke head coach John Kerr said following Tuesday’s loss.
As they return to conference play after a one-game hiatus, the Blue Devils (3-3-2, 0-2-1 in the ACC) are in dire need of a victory if they hope to make their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2011. Following a 1-2-1 record during a key four-game home stretch, Duke will take on another team that has yet to win a conference game in N.C. State (3-6, 0-3).
However, the Wolfpack carry more momentum into Friday’s game after winning two of their last three games—beating Liberty and Wright State—by scoring seven goals in the two victories. N.C. State has scored just five goals in its other seven games and has yet to score against an ACC opponent.
Sophomore midfielder Julius Duchscherer and redshirt sophomore Ade Taiwo lead the way for the Wolfpack and have scored seven of the team’s 12 goals this year, with Duchscherer notching two tallies in Tuesday’s win against the Raiders.
With a defense that allows 1.1 goals per game, the Blue Devils will look to limit the duo and get their own offense on track—Duke has just one ACC goal through three conference games and has wasted several strong performances by graduate student goalkeeper Robert Moewes.
Luckily for the Blue Devils, they will face a team that allows 1.9 goals per game and has not recorded a shutout yet this year.
To capitalize on its opportunities in front of goal Friday—Duke ranks among the worst ACC teams with a 9-percent conversion rates on shots—the Blue Devils will have to beat N.C. State goalkeeper Alex McConnell, who has 23 saves this year but often is faced with a steady onslaught of shots on goal.
“We had some good actions but we just weren’t clinical enough in front of goal, and it hurt us again,” Kerr said Tuesday. “We’ve been like that the past couple games where we’ve been pretty good going forward but just not finalizing that last pass or the last shot.”
Three Blue Devils—juniors Cameron Moseley and Brian White and freshman Suniel Veerakone—have at least two goals this season, though graduate student Ryan Thompson is second on the team in shots with 16 behind White’s 27. Kerr has repeatedly said that Duke works religiously on finishing shots, but if the Blue Devils do not get their offense on track soon, they will likely have a tough time improving on last year’s 10-7-2 record.
Following its game against the Wolfpack, Duke’s next three ACC tilts are against top-five teams in Notre Dame and North Carolina and a game against No. 18 Virginia Tech. The Blue Devils will take on Campbell and Davidson in between that daunting trio of games, but are running out of time to find an offensive spark.
“I’m not despondent,” Kerr said. “We just got to get through this little period and get back to winning ways.”
Riley Pfaff contributed reporting.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Digital Strategy Director for Vol. 115, Michael was previously Sports Editor for Vol. 114 and Assistant Blue Zone Editor for Vol. 113. Michael is a senior majoring in Statistical Science and is interested in data analytics and using data to make insights.