This Sunday, the field hockey team will host a legend on the East Campus Turf Field. Few college teams have dominated a sport the way No. 1 Old Dominion has field hockey.
Florida State has had bad years in football. UCLA has had bad years in basketball. Old Dominion (6-0) hasn't had one yet in field hockey.
Out of the 16 total NCAA tournaments, ODU has participated in all of them and won the national championship seven times. In 10 meetings, the Monarchs have never lost to Duke (3-2, 1-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference).
"Old Dominion is incredible," head coach Liz Tchou said. "Everyone I've talked to says how good they are. We're just going to go out there and take our best shot."
The Monarchs have shown no signs of fading this year. Through six games, ODU remains undefeated, allowing two goals total for the season and averaging over eight goals scored per game.
Before playing Duke, however, the Monarchs will have their toughest game of the season on Saturday, when they face No. 2 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The Blue Devils also face a ranked team on Saturday, taking on No. 16 Temple at the East Campus Turf Field.
"Temple is very aggressive," Tchou said. "They really fight you hard. We have to attack them and stay on top."
Temple (3-2) did not make an appearance in last year's NCAA Tournament but is currently leading the Atlantic 10 conference. The Owls have returned all of their starters from their 1996 squad and are looking to redeem themselves from last year's disappointing 6-14 season.
Coming off of a shaky 2-1 victory over No. 11 Wake Forest in its first ACC contest Wednesday night, Duke hopes that it can handle Temple.
"We know that Temple's first," sophomore Johanna Ashley said. "To play well on Sunday, we have to play well on Saturday."
In Wednesday's game, the Demon Deacons outshot Duke, 19-8, and held the advantage in penalty corners, an area the Blue Devils have had difficulty with this season.
Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Doherty made things easier for the team defensively against Wake, adding 10 saves against the Demon Deacons to the 11 saves she made last weekend when Duke faced No. 8 Princeton.
The Blue Devils are hoping to match the intensity and skill level that they played with against Princeton, when, despite a 1-0 loss, Duke felt it played even with the Tigers.
Duke thus far has played in predominantly non-conference games. These contests, especially against ranked opponents such as Temple and ODU, are important in terms of making the NCAA Tournament. Because only five ACC schools have field hockey teams and the Blue Devils do not necessarily play each team twice, the majority of Duke's games are against non-conference teams.
The Blue Devils' schedule also does not include a high number of home games. Out of 18 total games, only six are played at Duke. Hoping to feed off of the support in the two home games this weekend, the Blue Devils will be giving it their all.
"We're all tired, but I think from last weekend and [Wednesday], we all have our minds there," Ashley said. "I think we can win both games."
Joel Israel contributed to this story.
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