The dust has cleared from North Carolina’s recent visit, and Maryland looms next weekend. But sandwiched between the pair of top-five opponents are Radford (3-4) and Davidson (3-6), teams not likely to threaten the fifth-ranked Blue Devils (7-2). The Highlanders and Wildcats square off against Duke Saturday and Sunday, respectively, in 1 p.m. matchups at Williams Field.
Both opponents are below .500, play in a weak NorPac conference and do not have head coach Beth Bozman worried.
“We kind of go from the fire to the refrigerator,” Bozman said of the team’s recent schedule.
Although this weekend’s competition may not be tough, Duke has had an emotional week following its hard-fought 2-1 home loss to the No. 1 Tar Heels Saturday. After taking Sunday and Monday off, the Blue Devils came to practice Tuesday bracing for the worst from their coach.
“We thought we were going to be hammered and yelled at,” sophomore Cara-Lynn Lopresti said. “But she really brought up the morale of the team. I remember the first thing she said was, ‘I’m not going to quit, you guys don’t quit either. I believe in this team.’ She was constantly saying how much she believed in this team. She wasn’t angry, but she thought we could’ve done better.”
Despite being visibly upset and calling her team “casual” after the UNC game, Bozman set the tone for the week in practice, and her team has followed. Duke has gone from being an angry, disappointed team to having a “let’s just fix this and move forward” attitude, Bozman said.
A primary source of concern for the Blue Devils has been avoiding the types of mistakes that Bozman said cost the team a victory against the Tar Heels.
“We had a lapse for 10 to 15 minutes in the second half where it was clear that we were not playing our game,” senior back Gracie Sorbello said. “But overall, we dominated some parts, but there were also a lot of parts that we didn’t do certain things that are just standard.”
Still, any adjustments Duke has made in practice this week will likely have to wait until Maryland to be scrutinized.
The two teams visiting Durham played each other earlier this season and are evenly matched. Radford traveled to Davidson last week and beat the Wildcats in a 1-0 defensive battle.
Davidson lost 4-0 at North Carolina Tuesday night, in what its head coach Lisa Thompson called its “best team performance of the season.” So although it is certain that the Blue Devils are much better than both of their weekend opponents on paper, the players know an upset is always possible.
“You don’t know anything about a team until you play them,” senior midfielder Johanna Bischof said. “If nothing else, they are great teams to work on stuff we want to do in games ahead.”
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