COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Chicago Bulls had Michael Jordan and the Los Angeles Lakers have Shaquille O'Neal. The Duke women's lacrosse team has Tricia Martin, Kate Soulier, Kelly Dirks and Lauren Gallagher.
There is no clear cut go-to player and that is why Duke failed to advance to the ACC tournament final this weekend.
Duke has tremendous talent on the attack, but at the end of close games its offensive balance often becomes a burden. The attackers come out from the opening draw and are able to put points on the board early, but come crunch time they are waiting for each other to step up and bring life back to the attack.
Exhibit A: In their two regular season conference losses, the Blue Devils jumped out to large leads only to see them evaporate and end in heartbreaking losses.
Against Maryland, Duke had an 8-4 lead, only to fall in the end 10-8. Against Virginia, Duke led 5-0 but ended up losing 10-8.
In both of those games, the offense became stagnant in the second half because no one stepped up and took charge of the offense. The first half aggressiveness that was marked by sharp cuts to the eight and strong runs on goal, was virtually nonexistent in the second half.
Additionally, the Blue Devils didn't move the ball well enough or switch fields, which severely limited the effectiveness of their attack.
Exhibit B: In the ACC semifinals, Duke held a 6-3 lead with 19:00 remaining in the contest, but were outscored 4-0 the rest of the way. The Blue Devils failed to score at all in the last 25 minutes of the game.
Duke's play has become all too formulaic; a strong start followed by a disappointing late game collapse.
The UNC loss likely ended Duke's hopes of earning a top four seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. Still, if they can post wins against No. 4 James Madison and No. 9 Dartmouth this week, anything could happen.
But first they must establish a No. 1 go-to player and close out the tight games with victories. They have to do it soon, if they are to realize their dreams of competing for a national championship.
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