In two of its last three games, No. 12 Duke has struggled to score despite having plenty of opportunities on offense. Both of those contests ended in 1-0 Blue Devil losses.
So naturally, Duke will be focusing on finding a way to put the ball in the back of the net against South Carolina (4-2-0) tonight at 7 p.m. in Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils (3-2-0) were shutout in losses to Villanova Sept. 7 and then-No. 13 West Virginia last Saturday.
"It's like being in a batting funk-you just need a base hit," head coach John Rennie said. "In baseball you choke up a little bit and you don't try to hit a home run, you try to hit a single. In soccer, you just work on the fundamentals. You try to keep doing the little things that you know you're supposed to do."
Aside from Paul Dudley's two goals against then-No. 12 St. Louis Sept. 9, the Blue Devils have been unable to get that base hit. Duke outshot Villanova and West Virginia by a combined total of 40-13 and held an 18-1 advantage in corner kicks. But the Blue Devils were unable to get on the board in either match.
"We've got plenty of guys that can score, we're just not scoring," Rennie said. "We need somebody to step up and score a big goal."
The early minutes of tonight's game will be important in that regard. Duke's confidence rose after scoring a quick goal against the Billikens, paving the way for a second-half goal and the victory. But the Blue Devils' inability to score early against the Wildcats and the Mountaineers weighed on them as the games progressed.
"It puts pressure on the team offense as a whole, the team defense as a whole," Rennie said. "It kind of wears on everybody a little bit. And then when you get a goal or two, all of a sudden that's not the case."
Duke has been missing three key seniors-Spencer Wadsworth, Zach Pope and Tim Jepson-which has not helped its current predicament. Pope is expected to get more playing time tonight as he continues to recover from knee surgery, while Wadsworth is questionable for family reasons.
Jepson-a senior co-captain-suffered a setback in his return from a hamstring injury and will not play. Nevertheless, having Pope and Wadsworth back for part of the game should give the Blue Devils an extra bounce in their step.
"They add the kind of athleticism, effort and speed that we don't have out in the field right now," Rennie said. "We have the effort, but we don't have guys in those roles necessarily as quick or as athletic as them."
The Gamecocks' lineup is dominated by freshmen, so Duke is not sure what to expect from them. But the Blue Devils are more concerned with their own play-if they are able to find the back of the net, the game should take care of itself.
"It's a lot of unknowns," Rennie said. "I don't expect any problems there. It's more about us playing well and us scoring some goals."
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