Bum Phillips once said, "Winning is only half of it, Having fun winning is the other half."
Duke (7-2, 1-1 ACC) certainly hopes to kill two birds with one stone as it heads into its weekend matchup against No. 8 Virginia (7-4, 0-2) tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium.
The third-ranked Blue Devils now own an 0-7 lifetime mark against Virginia. Duke lost to the Cavaliers three times last year during its unprecedented run to the Final Four, including a heartbreaking 9-8 defeat in the national semifinals.
To say that Virginia has had the Blue Devils' number is like saying Michael Jordan was a pretty good basketball player. While Duke has, in recent years, managed to break through with wins against other traditional powers such as Maryland, North Carolina and Princeton, the Blue Devils have still failed to hang an 'L' on the Wahoos.
"In terms of never beating them, I think that's on everyone's mind," senior goalie Shannon Chaney said. "[Still], it doesn't matter that we've never beaten them, it's the fact that we need to play well against them [tomorrow]."
On paper, the Cavaliers seem especially vulnerable this season. Against conference opponents Maryland and North Carolina, UVa has looked like it didn't belong on the same field. The Cavs were not competitive in either contest, losing 17-8 to the Terps and 12-5 to the Tar Heels.
But like Lee Corso of the ESPN GameDay crew, Chaney offers up her very own "not so fast."
"Scores of other teams' games don't really matter," she said. "Carolina beat Maryland and Virginia. [In the ACC], any team can beat any other team on a given day.
"[This is] a big rivalry. But at the same time, it's just another game. We just have to play our game like we would against any other team."
The Wahoos field a team that is capable of reaching the NCAA finals for the third time in four years. Defense is once again the benchmark for this talented bunch. Between the pipes, they are led by senior Frances Segarra, who has emerged into one of the premier goalkeepers in the nation this season. In 11 games, she has allowed just 76 goals.
"She's much improved from last year," Virginia coach Julie Myers said, "and she keeps getting better. You expect your goalies to make the easy saves and then also some of the great saves. She's done that so far this year and we hope for more of the same on Saturday."
Amy Fromal also returns for the Cavaliers to anchor the explosive midfield. Fromal, the 1997 ACC rookie of the year and two-time All-ACC performer, is one of the best in the nation. The first-team All-American has 18 goals and five assists on the year.
"She's an awesome midfielder," Myers said. "She has great speed, quickness and tenacity. She really helps us out with defense and transition and she has the ability to score. She has the complete game."
Despite the abundance of talent on the Cavalier roster, they limp into tomorrow's matchup losers of three of their last four. More surprisingly, they enter as underdogs.
"We're underdogs and it's a different feeling for us," Myers said. "Duke is a top-10 team and this is our next best challenge and we need to take advantage of it."
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