When No. 3 Old Dominion came to Durham Sept. 17, the Monarchs battled the No. 4 Blue Devils for over 90 minutes and emerged with a 4-3, double-overtime victory.
This weekend, Duke travels to Norfolk, Va. and will have the chance to upend Old Dominion, taking down the top-five opponent that knocked the Blue Devils off almost a month earlier.
Duke (11-3) faces Old Dominion (13-1) Sunday at 1 p.m. in the second of its two games this weekend. In their other matchup, the Blue Devils will play No. 19 William & Mary (8-5) Saturday at 2 p.m. at Old Dominion's Foreman Field.
Although the game against Old Dominion will be a rematch of a hard-fought battle, the team does not think revenge will be a major factor.
"We're not really focused so much on revenge as playing up to our potential and how we know how to play and coming out with the win," junior goalkeeper Caitlin Williams said. "We're fairly confident in our abilities."
Coming off of three victories over the long weekend-Duke defeated top-ranked Maryland Oct. 7, No. 16 Villanova Oct. 9 and unranked Drexel Oct. 10-the team has plenty of confidence heading into this match, head coach Beth Bozman said.
"Our motive is to play the best teams and beat the best teams," Bozman said. "I think we're where we want to be at this stage in the season. [The long weekend was] a critical factor, and it was a huge confidence booster for us."
To continue to beat the best teams, the Blue Devils need to have strong performances in both halves of the game. In the Blue Devils' earlier matchup with the Monarchs, Duke lost its lead in the second half and allowed Old Dominion to score two goals, sending the game into overtime. The Monarchs continued their streak in a second extra period to win the game.
"Our goal is to play full halves-it's not rocket science," Bozman said. "We came out hard last time and then let up."
Duke took several measures to ensure it would not be tired heading into this weekend's match. Bozman gave the players a day off from practice Wednesday and worked Thursday in practice to ready the team to enter the weekend with an aggressive attack, sophomore Marian Dickinson said.
"We've really been working on our pressure system a lot to contain them," Dickinson said. "If we can get an immediate turnover we're in our attack already."
For this strategy to work effectively, though, the Blue Devils must come out strong, something they did not do well in their three-game stretch last weekend.
"We come out flat a lot and then we have to try and pick it up second half," Williams said. "But if we can come out strong, we will be awfully tough to stop."
On the other side, Old Dominion has a tough slate on its hands this weekend. The Monarchs play Maryland-the only team to have beaten Old Dominion so far this season-just one day before their match with the Blue Devils. Duke, however, does not expect the tough opening game to faze Old Dominion.
Taking on the No. 3 team in the country, Duke hopes to confirm its status as a team capable of competing for a national title. Right now, Bozman is confident that the Blue Devils are in that elite group.
"Absolutely," Bozman said.
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