Senior goalie Aaron Fenton has never won an ACC regular-season championship. Saturday against Virginia, that could all change.
When No. 2 Duke (11-1, 2-0 in the ACC) squares off against No. 3 Virginia (8-1, 2-0), the Blue Devils will have their sights set on their first regular season title and undefeated ACC season since 2001. The Senior Day game begins at 3 p.m. Saturday at Koskinen Stadium.
“Obviously it is special,” Fenton said. “It could be another thing under my belt—to say I have a regular-season ACC title.”
Head coach Mike Pressler said going undefeated in the ACC and winning the league have been the two main goals for his team this season.
“We have a chance to do both of those against a tough UVa team,” Pressler said.
The matchup comes a year after Virginia thrashed Duke 13-4 in Charlottesville. The game was tied 3-3 in the second quarter before the Cavaliers exploded for 10 straight goals to put the game away.
“Last year we struggled with offense and at the end our defense kind of gave up,” Fenton said. “This is a different situation. We weren’t 11-1 going into that game.”
Duke lost a double-overtime thriller to No. 1 Johns Hopkins, 11-10 last Saturday. Despite losing their perfect mark, the Blue Devils managed to extract some positive lessons from the experience.
“That game sort of grounded us,” Fenton said. “It definitely makes us less cocky going into big games like this.”
Pressler believes his team’s character showed through in the loss. After the Blue Devils found themselves facing a 5-2 deficit, they were able to bounce back and went on a 6-1 run to capture the lead, before falling in the second extra period.
Virginia will attack Duke with two-time ACC Player of the Week John Christmas, who is second on the team with 13 goals and 12 assists, and leading scorer Matt Ward, who enters the contest with 27 goals.
Pressler said that focusing on just those players, however, would be a mistake as it would leave dangerous players open, most notably star freshman Ben Rubeor.
Not only do the Cavaliers dominate teams with a stellar offense, they also counter with a poised defense.
“They are probably the most athletic defense we’ve seen,” Pressler said. “We are going to have to come out and do our thing.”
Pressler said that former Duke players are coming to Durham from across the country to come watch the game and for their Alumni Reunions.
“Senior Day, reunion weekend and playing for the regular season title, it doesn’t get much better than that,” Pressler said.
With beautiful weather in Saturday’s forecast, there will likely be plenty of students tailgating before the game, and Pressler believes that a big crowd would make the game that much more special.
“The bigger the crowd, the more exciting the atmosphere is and the better you will see us play,” Pressler said. “We are playing for something, the ACC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Let’s get a little home cookin’ going for the Blue Devils.”
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