When you're number one, everyone is gunning for you.
And nobody knows better what it's like to be number one than North Carolina's lacrosse team. Its 9-1 record is tops in the nation. The quality of its wins -- which include victories over the likes of defending National Champion Princeton, third-ranked Syracuse and fourth-ranked Johns Hopkins -- is unquestionable. Its spot atop the polls, which it has held since beating Princeton a month ago, is certainly well deserved.
When the Tar Heels bring their impeccable reputation to Durham this Saturday at 2 p.m., the ninth-ranked Blue Devils (8-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) will have all their guns loaded.
"I think in the back of everybody's mind has been Carolina," Duke attackman Ken Fasanaro said after his two-goal, one-assist performance in last Sunday's win over Michigan State. "We'll most likely have two straight games against them, so it's gonna be a hell of a stretch."
It was in 1987 that the Blue Devils last notched a victory over their arch rival from Chapel Hill, but that was a win, and a team, of another era. Duke was led then by players like Peter Rubin and Jim Cabrera, names now only found in ancient archives. Current Duke head coach Mike Pressler was in his first year at the helm of Division III powerhouse Ohio Wesleyan, who would finish that season at the top of its poll.
And the current crop (seven, to be exact) of Blue Devil seniors -- who Saturday will play their final game in Duke Lacrosse Stadium -- were but high school sophomores, still two years away from deciding to attend Duke.
Neither they, nor Pressler, have ever known victory over the Tar Heels, and it will take everything they have to finally earn one.
"To beat Carolina, we're gonna have to have everyone in the zone, on that emotional plain where you leave everything on the field," said senior Carter Hertzberg. "Nothing else matters, and everyone's on the same focus just going nuts out there.
"Running until you can't run anymore, hitting anything that moves -- that's what we're gonna have to do to win."
It may take even more than that. This year's Duke team has shown flashes of brilliance in wins over then seventh-ranked Maryland and, indeed, in last Friday's win over Notre Dame. But they have also shown signs of youth and inexperience, letting close games against Navy and Massachusetts slip away in the waning moments. No such let-up can occur against Carolina.
"We need a hard effort the whole game," said midfielder Ross Moscatelli. "They'll take advantage of our mistakes quite easily. It's not like teams we've had before -- you let up, they're gonna take advantage of it. They're that skilled and they're that deep."
This year's team has also faced injury problems, and has faced it beyond all normal or expected levels. Sophomore Chris Wyszynski and freshman Dave Stilley have both fallen victim to broken legs. For the second time in senior tri-captain Joe Proud's career, his season has ended early. He is on crutches with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Chris Affolter has played much of the season with a broken wrist, and last Friday suffered a deep thigh bruise that sidelined him for the game against Michigan State. Moscatelli is nursing a pair of problematic shoulders. Depth is a word seldom used to describe this Duke team, but often used to describe the Tar Heels.
"We can't go up and down with them, we have to play a more controlled game," said Pressler, who will most likely use between 15 and 20 players on Saturday, as compared to Carolina's 30.
"We can't make it a fast break. They've got too many legs for us. They've got too much speed for us. We'd like to play that way eventually, but we can't play that way right now."
But Carolina, for the first time, looks vulnerable. Its past two victories over the Blue Devils -- in the 1991 ACC tournament, and last year during the regular season -- have been by margins of one goal apiece.
Its ace goalkeeper, senior Billy Daye, has been sidelined for the remainder of the season with a broken neck. The Tar Heels are coming off their first loss of the season, a 13-12 overtime defeat against Virginia.
Duke, on the other hand, enters the game riding a two-game win streak, the product of last weekend's successful homestand. The team remains motivated, still in need of one more big win to clinch a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The attack, earlier this season considered a question mark, has developed into a unit to be reckoned with. From the defense, in the midst of all the injuries, has emerged a group of young longpoles more than capable of handling their jobs.
And then, there's the emotion.
"It's gonna be a rumble here on Saturday," Pressler said. "They don't like us, and we make no bones about it -- we don't like them either. It's gonna be a wild, wild game."
Against Carolina, it couldn't, and shouldn't, be any other way.
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