When the Blue Devils travel to Florida for the second time in a week Thursday, their opponent won't be another top-10 powerhouse. But their opponent is perhaps equally as dangerous, but for very different reasons.
No. 11 Duke (11-3-1, 3-2-1 in the ACC) takes on Miami at 7 p.m. in Coral Gables, Fla. The Hurricanes are one loss away from missing the ACC tournament.
Although the Hurricanes (8-6-2, 1-4-1) do not boast the same talent level as then-No. 8 Florida State, which defeated the Blue Devils 5-2 Sunday, they will enter Thursday's match with momentum after picking up their first ACC victory one week ago.
The Duke players knows Miami will be no pushover as it struggles to earn one of eight conference tournament berths from the 11-team league.
"We have a lot of respect for Miami," junior forward KayAnne Gummersall said. "They've always given us a game, and we know that they're a desperate team and that they need wins, so they're going to come out ready."
The Blue Devils also need to contend with the Hurricanes' intensity on a field that is only 68 yards wide, three yards longer than the minimum width permitted by the NCAA. As a result, head coach Robbie Church said the game will be more pinched in and that his team must move the ball quickly in order to have success.
Despite the foreign field conditions, Duke will look to be on the offensive and score first, hopefully striking a demoralizing blow to Miami's morale.
"I think scoring the first goal is going to be very important in this game for both teams," Church said. "If they score, they're going to have a lot of belief. If we score, I think that can really hurt them because they're about one loss away from being eliminated from [the ACC tournament]."
But after conceding a season-high five goals to the Seminoles, the Blue Devils hope to shore up their defense to eliminate the breakdowns that plagued them against Florida State. This task will be more daunting, however, given the fact that freshman Ashley Rape, who Church called Duke's best defender, injured her knee in Tuesday's practice and most likely will not travel with the team to Miami.
Even though the Blue Devils, currently in fifth place in the ACC, cannot win the regular season conference title, they still have plenty of motivation to win their remaining four games. If the team can come away with a top-four finish in the ACC, it is all but guaranteed to be ranked in the top 12 nationally and therefore host games in the NCAA tournament, Church said.
Before that can happen, though, the Blue Devils must win away from Durham. Of the team's remaining four games, three are away, and a victory against Miami would prove that Duke has the resiliency to bounce back on the road.
"We just need to come out hard, and I don't doubt that we will," Gummersall said. "Obviously we were really upset leaving Florida State, but we've put that behind us, and I wouldn't want to be the next team we face."
And even though Miami isn't a top-25 team, the Blue Devils feel their philosophy of treating every team the same holds the same amount of importance Thursday.
"One of our main mottos this year has been 'nameless, faceless opponents,'" Gummersall said. "We just go into every game like it's our biggest game, and I think that's really worked out well."
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