As well as Wake Forest has played in its last five games, the women’s soccer team might as well be facing a completely unfamiliar opponent in the first round of the ACC Tournament.
The No. 11 Blue Devils (12-6, 5-4 in the ACC) will face the No. 18 Demon Deacons (10-5-1, 4-4-1) Wednesday in Cary in a match-up of fourth and fifth seeds. Although Duke beat Wake Forest 2-0 Sept. 26 in Winston-Salem, the team knows another victory is far from assured.
“A lot of things have changed since then, both in them and in us,” head coach Robbie Church said. “It’s a tough draw for us—Wake Forest is one of the hottest teams in the conference.”
The Demon Deacons are 3-1-1 in their last five contests, all against ACC opponents. Wake Forest beat and tied Maryland and Clemson, respectively, during the streak—two teams to which the Blue Devils have lost in their last four games. The Demon Deacons suffered their only late-season loss to undefeated North Carolina.
Church said he expects a hard-fought, one-goal game, with an early goal likely providing the difference.
“A key will be the early goal in this game,” Church said. “Who gets the first goal? Who gets up by one and puts the pressure on the other team to change their formation and change their system of play?”
With so much riding on the first goal of the game, the Blue Devils have focused on avoiding a slow start against Wake Forest. A win Wednesday for Duke would likely lead to a second chance at No. 2 North Carolina, but the team cannot afford to overlook the Demon Deacons.
“We’re definitely not looking past Wake Forest at all; they’re a really good team and they definitely are capable of beating us,” said forward Casey McCluskey, ACC Offensive Player of the Year. “We haven’t even talked about Carolina since we played them last.”
The driving force behind Wake’s surge has been forward Sarah Kozey, a member of the All-ACC second team. Kozey has recorded three goals and one assist over the five games and has averaged just under three shots on goal per contest.
Still, the Blue Devils were able to contain Kozey when they last faced her—holding her to just one shot on goal—and do not plan to change their defensive strategy to stop the junior forward.
“We’ll just defend like we normally do as a unit and just not let anyone get behind including [Kozey],” defender Kate Seibert said. “We’ve been playing pretty good lately together, so we shouldn’t have any problems with her.”
Duke will focus on limiting the Demon Deacons’ chances, as Wake Forest has been impressive recently at finishing scoring opportunities.
“They don’t create a lot of opportunities, but lately they’ve been scoring on a limited amount of opportunities,” Church said.
Although Wake Forest’s defense only ranks seventh in the ACC in goals against average, it has looked better in their last five games, registering two shutouts. Senior Alli Hunt, an All-ACC second-team selection, and her defensive teammates will most likely focus their defensive attention on McCluskey, forcing Duke’s other attackers to beat them.
“Somebody else is going to have to step up; that’s going to be key,” Church said. “If they try to take Casey out of the game, if they’re successful at that, then that’s going to leave some other people that are going to have some opportunities, and that’s where we really have to have playmakers step up.”
Though Duke would like to win the game, an NCAA Tournament bid is most likely assured, win or lose. Should the Blue Devils win the entire tournament, they might receive a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, Church said.
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