A rough ACC schedule and a solid regular season both come to a close tonight for the women's soccer team, when Maryland knocks on Duke's door for what should be a treat of a Halloween game.
The tenth-ranked Blue Devils (11-5-1, 3-3 in the ACC) have been slumping offensively while putting together a .500 record in conference play, and tonight's contest is crucial to seedings in next week's ACC Tournament and to whether or not Duke hosts NCAA Tournament games. A win against No. 19 Maryland (9-6-1, 2-4) on Senior Night would leave the Blue Devils in fourth place in the ACC--third if Virginia and Clemson tie tomorrow night--while a loss would drop them to sixth.
"It's a huge game," head coach Robbie Church said. "It's as big as we've been involved in, I think, in three years."
The usually mild-mannered Church was furious at his players at the end of yesterday's practice, mostly for lack of focus on set play drills. Duke has been burnt all season on the defensive end on set plays, from corner kicks to throw-ins and free kicks; a set play goal gave Clemson a huge 1-0 win over the Blue Devils last weekend.
The Terrapins pose even more of a threat when it comes to set plays, as their throw-in play has confounded opponents this year. Church said Maryland's throws into the middle of the box were potentially more dangerous than its corner kicks, so he roared at his team as they prepared for the Terps defensively yesterday.
"It's really the most important part of the season, and there's really no room for mistakes," said sophomore forward Carolyn Riggs, Duke's leading scorer. "At times, you need to have a serious practice to reiterate how important the game is tomorrow. More than anything, we all need to keep our head into it and not take it lightly because this is one of the biggest games of our season."
Riggs and the Duke offense have been shoddy, though, when it comes to conference games. The Blue Devils have been shutout in three of their six ACC contests and have been outscored 8-4. And Maryland, which beat Duke 3-2 in a nailbiter last season, blew out second-place Wake Forest, 5-1, last weekend while the Blue Devils could only muster a 1-0 victory.
"We just have to make sure we're keeping our attacking mentality because in the ACC you have such quality opponents, and I think that we need to make sure that we go in with the mindset that we will score goals," said a driven Gwendolyn Oxenham, who will be honored in the Senior Night festivities before the game along with starting goalie Thora Helgadottir and Kelly Harris, who returned from a leg injury this week.
Next week, though, is the start of postseason play, which could see Duke seeded low in the conference tournament and then not host the first two rounds of the national tournament should they lose tonight. But "12" has been the target for number of wins all season for the Blue Devils, and they're only one trick away from the magic number this Halloween.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.