Virginia Tech is the latest team to have No. 4 Duke in its crosshairs. After a come-from-behind victory over North Carolina Sunday, the Blue Devils will face the Hokies at 7 p.m. Friday in Koskinen Stadium, hoping to keep their unbeaten streak alive.
Nigi Adogwa traced a circle in the air with his right index finger.
“We have a big target on our back,” the senior forward said. “So they’re going to be coming for us.”
Virginia Tech (5-5, 0-1 in the ACC) is the latest team to have No. 4 Duke in its crosshairs. After a come-from-behind victory over North Carolina Sunday, the Blue Devils (11-0, 3-0) will face the Hokies at 7 p.m. Friday in Koskinen Stadium, hoping to keep their unbeaten streak alive. Virginia Tech enters the game coming off a big win on the road, having defeated then-No. 25 Coastal Carolina Monday, 2-0.
Despite their success, the Blue Devils know they cannot afford to become complacent, especially against a tough ACC opponent.
“We don’t and we won’t let the winning go to our heads,” said midfielder Danny Kramer, whose game-winning goal against UNC earned him a place on the College Soccer News National Team of the Week. “We just stay focused and take every day seriously. It’s not like we slack off in practice, we work as hard as we can…. We don’t take any opponent lightly.”
Not only has the team vowed to keep working hard, but it has also continued to find different strategies to become even more potent on offense and even stingier on defense. Against UNC, Blake Camp reasserted himself in the Duke attack, collecting two assists for only his second and third points since the team’s win over St. Francis Sept. 5.
“We’re still a young team trying to get better every game,” head coach John Rennie said. “We got Blake Camp more involved in the offensive end of the field with a little tactical change we made at halftime of the game, trying to get him more opportunities to go forward was a big help. And I think our defenders learned a lot in the first half about how to play against teams that have that explosive kind of speed. The second half of the game was better than the first because we learned from what happened in the first half.”
The Blue Devils should be well-rested for the game; they did not play a mid-week non-conference game, getting their first extended break since the start of ACC play Sept. 18. Despite the layoff, Rennie does not expect his team to show any signs of rust.
“With midterms, mentally, physically, psychologically we needed a break,” Rennie said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to regenerate a little bit this week and be a little fresher than we’ve been. We’ve been in need of a break from two games a week.”
Virginia Tech comes to Duke for the first time as an ACC opponent and will be playing only its second-ever game in the conference. The Blue Devils and the Hokies last met in 1988, a game Duke won, 7-2.
“We’ve scouted them and have expectations, but we’ve not played them before. We’re just expecting a quality opponent and another tough conference game,” Rennie said. “They’re a very well-organized, disciplined, strong defensive team with some very good players.”
Although Virginia Tech is an unfamiliar opponent, Duke will see one familiar face on the opposite sideline. The Hokies’ third-year head coach Oliver Weiss served as the top assistant at UNC before moving on to Blacksburg. Like the Tar Heels, Weiss’ teams are known for their attacking style, and Virginia Tech was ranked sixth in the nation in goals per game last season.
Leading the Hokie attack are forwards Marcus Reed and Bailey Allman, who have registered five and four goals on the season, respectively. Midfielder Ben Nason is the team’s top playmaker, with a team-leading four assists. Goalkeeper Chase Harrison has started all 10 games for Virginia Tech, recording a shutout in each of the team’s five victories. The Hokies’ impressive talent earned them a No. 21 preseason ranking.
The Blue Devils know that, despite Virginia Tech’s .500 record, the Hokies are talented enough to beat them if they do not come prepared to play.
“Against UNC we had a good, aggressive second half,” Adogwa said. “And that’s what we’re going to take into the Virginia Tech game because that’s what we’re going to need to beat Virginia Tech.”
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