Duke is starting this season on the attack.
After starting with defense the past few years, the Blue Devils have shifted their preseason focus to the offensive side of the field, a year after they finished in the bottom half of the league in goals per game and often had difficulty converting scoring opportunities.
"We've always been a very, very good defensive team; we've always been very solid in the goal," head coach Robbie Church said. "We've got to take the next step."
And No. 16 Duke is counting on an improved offensive attack to help the team build off of its longest postseason run since 1994 as it tries to earn a place among college soccer's elite.
The 2007 Blue Devils played mainly a 4-3-3 formation, but have used the 4-4-2 more in preseason, a move that Church said has already resulted in more goals. Junior Elisabeth Redmond-last season's leading scorer with eight goals and 12 assists-has moved from playing forward back into an attacking midfield position, creating a dynamic pairing with National Player of the Year candidate Lorraine Quinn. In its 2007 NCAA tournament success, Duke flirted with the 4-4-2 formation to great rewards.
"We put [Redmond] in an attacking midfield position so she could face up and really run at players," Church said. "Elisabeth is running at defenders well, she's drawing defenders out of shape, she can score from distance and she can play other players in."
Duke is also looking to get a fast start due to a top heavy schedule that has the Blue Devils playing in Koskinen Stadium for nine of their first 13 games. Duke will close out the season with five ACC road games in six contests and two against current top-10 opponents.
Nevertheless, the Blue Devils relish the opportunity to test their mettle in one of the nation's toughest conferences, even if the results showed negatively in the win-loss column a year ago.
"A lot of the teams [in the ACC] are really competitive and got into the tournament, so the post-season was our time to shine," Redmond said. "Going into this season, we're not overlooking the conference because it's going to be really challenging. We're preparing for that and taking one game at a time. Our conference really prepares us for the postseason."
Although the team returns nine of 11 starters, Duke still has question marks in its lineup before the team can realistically think about the tournament. The most notable departure was goalkeeper Allison Lipsher, a four-year starter whose name is littered throughout the Blue Devil record books and whose absence will profoundly affect Duke's back line.
Senior goalkeeper Cassidy Powers backed up Lipsher last year and is a possible candidate to replace her. However, personal reasons forced Powers to miss the first week of camp, allowing freshman Emily Nahas to step in and emerge as a contender for the starting job. The competition between the two continues-in Duke's 9-0 rout Sunday, Powers started while Nahas took over in the second half.
And the high quality of play from the goalkeepers has been matched by all of the Blue Devils in Duke's preseason. Church noted that he has yet to see a down day in practice from the team, which is eager to prove that its national quarterfinal run in last year's NCAA College Cup was no fluke.
"We were obviously very excited about last year, but we're not satisfied," Church said. "We want to continue to build on the momentum that we have, and we've got a lot of hungry players. We have a team that enjoyed the national spotlight last year and that's where we see our program.
"We should be in the national spotlight year-in and year-out."
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