With their goal of winning back-to-back ACC regular season titles within reach, the No. 2 Blue Devils (11-3, 2-1 in the ACC) have only one major obstacle to overcome—a 6 p.m. matchup in Koskinen Stadium tonight against ACC-newcomer Virginia Tech (5-8, 0-3).
A win today would move the Blue Devils into a tie atop the ACC standings with No. 4 Virginia, giving Duke a share of the regular season championship for the second consecutive year.
“It’s obviously really exciting for us,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “I think winning the regular season title is a good indication of your consistent performance over the year against ACC competition.”
In addition to the title, a victory would secure Duke’s position as the top seed in next weekend’s ACC tournament, because the Blue Devils hold the tie-breaker over the Cavaliers after beating them 16-12 in Charlottesville April 2. A win would also allow Duke to face the winner of the Friday play-in game instead of facing a fresh No. 7 Maryland squad in its first tournament game.
“It’s certainly a goal of ours to clinch that No. 1 seed,” Kimel said. “So we’re really excited to play.”
A young and relatively inexperienced Virginia Tech squad will attempt to knock off the Blue Devils to gain its first conference win. Through three conference games, the Hokies have been outscored by a margin of 44-20, headlined by a 18-3 loss at Virginia last week. The team has also struggled on the road this season, prevailing in only one of seven contests.
One of the bright spots for the Hokies has been their passing game. Virginia Tech currently leads the ACC with 5.85 assists per game. The majority of the team’s assists have been tallied by freshman standout Natasha Fuchs, who ranks first in the ACC and second in the country with 34 assists.
“Offensively, they’ve got a couple of nice players in Natasha Fuchs and Lindsay Pieper,” Kimel said. “They do a lot of work together and have good stickwork.”
Pieper, Virginia Tech’s 2004 rookie of the year, has already surpassed her freshman goal total with 27. However, Pieper’s real strength is face-offs; she is second in the conference with 33 draws.
Duke’s recently hobbled defense is expected to return to full strength to counter this attack as Tewaaraton Trophy nominee Caline McHenry’s groin injury has nearly finished healing. Goalie Meghan Huether’s ankle troubles have also shown signs of improvement, although Kimel said that she is still lacking some of her usual mobility coming out of the cage.
“We definitely want them healthy as we head into this last stretch of the season,” Kimel said.
Virginia Tech goalie Nikki Schiavone, however, will be hard-pressed to stop the Blue Devils’ explosive trio of Katie Chrest, Kristen Waagbo and Rachel Sanford. She has a goals against average of 9.96 per game. To slow down this offensive attack, the Hokies will try to employ a sag man-to-man scheme which will seek to isolate these scoring threats.
“Their defense is solid,” Kimel said. “But it’s nothing that we haven’t seen yet this year.”
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