Less than a week separated from two heart-breaking overtime losses to nationally-ranked opponents, the Duke women's soccer team will get another chance to prove its prowess when the Blue Devils travel to Gainesville today to take on the No. 12 Florida Gators at 7 p.m.
The match will mark the fourth straight top-15 opponent for Duke and the third straight game on the road. The Blue Devils lost Friday in Clemson on a questionable handball call early in the extra period and then fell just short again at FSU Sunday afternoon. Clemson's goal came off a corner kick, followed by a mad scramble in the box before the referee blew the whistle to seemingly call a Lady Tiger for a handball. But to the Blue Devils' despair, the referee called Duke for the infraction, leading to a Tiger penalty kick that would ultimately decide the game.
"Our players said it was an inadvertent handball; it should not have been called at that point in the game," Duke coach Robbie Church said. "We all know we're better than our record. We've had some tough luck with it. We're playing all the elite teams in the nation, but [the players] know they're close.
"That [loss] definitely makes it tough. We have just got to win. The good thing about playing Florida is that we get another opportunity to play one of the top-ranked teams in the nation. We have to get some quality wins. We can't just be close anymore."
Despite the recent setbacks, however, Church has seen nothing but enthusiasm from the players heading into this Friday's match. The team should get an extra boost from the return of Kasey Truman, who has suffered a variety of knee injuries in the past year and a half, but has now returned to full health. Truman was selected to the All-ACC second team in 1999 by tallying 19 points from her defensive position.
"She has been working so hard to get back onto the field," Church said of Truman. "She brings a new dimension, probably by seeing a lot of time up front. She's a great leader, and everyone benefits from her on the field."
Duke will take all the help it can get in facing a Florida team (8-2-1, 4-0) that easily handled Kentucky 5-1 Sunday to extend its league winning streak to a nationally-best 49 straight. The win was the fifth in a row for the Gators, who won the conference championship a season ago and are the clear favorites to repeat as SEC champs once again.
Florida is led by seniors Abby Wambach and Keisha Bell, both of whom earned experience in U.S. national team play this summer. Wambach, also a finalist for the Hermann trophy, which is given to the top women's soccer player in the nation, notched her 41st career assist in Sunday's match, putting her atop the all-time leader list in goals, assists, and points in Florida's history. But despite the great record, the Blue Devils just see Florida as a another chance for a quality win over a nationally ranked opponent.
"Each of these games [in the past two weeks] we rightfully should have won," midfielder Carly Fuller said. "Florida is a great chance for us; and they don't play the strongest of schedules. A win would really help us nationally standing-wise. We definitely are still alive for the tournament chase, especially now that they've expanded it to a 64-team field."
The last time these two teams met was in 1998, when Duke was handed a 5-1 defeat by the Gators. Duke will round out its Florida road-trip with a match Sunday afternoon against Florida International, its last non-conference opponent of the year for Duke. The Golden Panthers (7-2) are led by senior Michele O'Brien, who tied FIU's all-time points record (124) in the team's victory over Louisiana-Lafayette Sunday at University Park.
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