Even though the shadow of top-ranked North Carolina looms on Duke’s schedule, the Blue Devils must wrestle with a pack of Tigers this weekend before they kick off their ACC slate.
Duke hosts Auburn (3-1-2) tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium, followed by LSU (4-1-1) Sunday at 2:00 p.m., as part of the annual Duke/Nike Classic.
The Blue Devils (3-3-1) look to build off their 8-0 drubbing of Alabama A&M last weekend and hope to close the nonconference season on a high note by coming away with two victories, which is easier said than done.
“We need to go into Chapel Hill next Thursday with two wins, quality wins,” head coach Robbie Church said. “We need to be playing good soccer as we open up the ACC because we’ve got Carolina, Wake Forest, Maryland and Florida State. All four of those teams are in the top ten in the country in some poll that’s out there. We need to go in with a three-game winning streak, and that’s what we’re looking for this weekend.”
While Duke has yet to notch back-to-back wins this year, the Blue Devils have an undefeated 3-0-1 record at home and have not conceded a goal in those games.
Despite its defensive prowess, Duke is still looking for consistent success when it tries to put its own shots in the back of the net. The Blue Devils’ school-record eight goals in the first half against Alabama A&M came against an opponent that had not won a game this season and lacked the quality of play of most of Duke’s ACC foes.
“We need a lot of work on our finishing,” senior midfielder Jane Alukonis said. “I think that’s what we worked on a lot in practice—getting the ball wide and being able to finish off crosses.”
The Blue Devils also want to improve on dictating the pace of play for a full 90 minutes, Alukonis said. They learned that lesson the hard way last Friday against then-No. 14 Florida.
Trailing 1-0 to the Gators, Duke tied the game just before halftime, only to watch its momentum evaporate in the second half. Florida’s defense held the Blue Devils to only three shots in that period, and the Gators went on to notch the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute.
Church also wants his team to remain fully committed to its game plan from the opening kickoff to the final whistle.
“We all have to really make sure that we focus for 90 minutes, and make sure that we put ourselves out there and not hide in the big games,” he said. “That’s a learning process—once we do that we’re going to be in very, very good shape.”
Though Duke could not pull out a victory against Florida, the emergence of sophomore forward Chelsea Canepa as an offensive threat could give the Blue Devils another weapon this weekend and beyond.
After scoring the team’s only goal against the Gators, Canepa exploded for three scores in 37 minutes of play off the bench against Alabama A&M.
Duke will need to be on top of its game both offensively and defensively against LSU Sunday, as the Tigers are riding a three-game winning streak into Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils have never played LSU before in the program’s history, but the two teams shared a common opponent this season—Central Florida—and the Tigers emerged from that game with a scoreless tie, while Duke fell to the Golden Knights 3-2 in overtime.
Yet, even though the Blue Devils do not want to overlook their SEC opponents, they cannot help but think about next week’s matchup with the team eight miles down the road.
“Playing in the ACC is a lot of the reason most of us joined this team—to play against teams like [North Carolina],” Alukonis said. “So I think we have to focus on the two games this weekend, but that game is always in the back of our mind.”
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