The men's lacrosse team finds itself at a crossroads just one game into the season.
The Blue Devils opened their season on Saturday with a 12-6 loss to Maryland. The Terrapins dominated most of the game and left Duke shaking its head and wondering where to go from here.
"We were totally outclassed today," Blue Devil head coach Mike Pressler said. "It's hard for me to describe it. We thought it would be a battle of two of the best goalies. Well, they won that battle."
Blame for the outcome does not simply fall on Duke goalie Joe Kirmser. Both the offense and the defense struggled for the Blue Devils for most of the day.
Duke (0-1, 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game. But the Blue Devils then went over 50 minutes before scoring again. The Terps ran off 12 straight goals. More importantly, they got Duke out of its game plan.
"What a wild game," Pressler said. "It's hard to figure. They got to the ground balls, they outhustled us, did a better job on the faceoff. I'll take the blame. We were poorly prepared.
"I'm overestimating how good we can be. We've got a lot of regrouping to do right now because we're not a very good lacrosse team. Somehow I've got to regroup these guys and get ready for Tuesday."
The Terps exposed plenty of areas for Pressler to work on before Tuesday's match at home against Boston College. The Blue Devils lost a number of starters on offense and in the midfield from last year's team that won the ACC Tournament, but they were ranked in the top 10 in the nation in the preseason.
Maryland stymied Duke's offense with a simple tactic. Whenever they were at even strength, the Terps would double-team the man with the ball. The Blue Devils would bunch up and not spread out into a passing game. In addition, most of Duke's shots were from far out and were flat line drives that were particularly easy for Maryland's All-American goalie Brian Dougherty.
"We played hard, and we've got a great goaltender," Maryland head coach Dick Edell said. "If there was any doubt as to whether or not he was worthy of the honors that he has received, he dispelled that today."
The offense took 39 shots, but Dougherty made 14 saves, and many of the shots were not even close to being between the pipes. An offensive struggle for the Blue Devils was not expected, yet it occurred on Saturday.
Duke scored 15 goals against Towson State and 12 against Johns Hopkins in the preseason, but it did not execute for most of the game against Maryland. The Terps yielded three late goals only after Edell had emptied Maryland's bench.
On defense the Blue Devils had trouble helping one another out. Duke's help defense was uninspired and led to many Terp goals.
"Our offense and our defense were equally disappointing today," Pressler said. "Our offense comes out of our defensive end, and we didn't play smart today.
"We got out of the game plan. Some of our stars didn't play like they were coached to play. Our stars, our lead guys didn't play well, and that was very disappointing."
Still it was only the Blue Devils' first game of the year. They have now lost to Maryland (2-0, 1-0) each of the last three years to start the season. In fact the Terps are 13-1 against the Blue Devils in ACC openers, since the two began opening the season against each other in 1983. The past two years have been successful for Duke after its opening-game losses, and Pressler sees no reason why this season should be any different.
He realizes it is a long season, and is mainly concerned with regrouping his team. Duke is likely to cross paths again with Maryland this season, and the Blue Devils hope to be rolling by then.
"We're going to play them again," Edell said. "We've played them more than anybody else in this sport the last three years... I'm not going to say a word about Mike's team. They play hard, we're fortunate to win, all those political things-because I know we're going to see them again."
To prepare his team to face Duke, Edell made sure the Terps were ready to play physical lacrosse. Maryland and Duke play an old-fashioned style of lacrosse that appeals to Edell.
"I wanted to play a team that smacked you, and played as physically as Maryland and Duke do," Edell said. "I believe in the kind of lacrosse these two teams play. The white shorts get dirty. Both of us wear dark colored shorts because we want grass stains on our ass. We want to pop people, and Duke wants to pop people.
"That's the way the sport was meant to be played. We've got so many preppies and the like with the great sticks. The ball's on the ground, let's mix it up."
Pressler knows Duke will have to be prepared to mix things up from here on out, starting on Tuesday afternoon against Boston College.
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