Navy brings familiar face to Koskinen

After bringing in its fourth consecutive victory Wednesday, No. 6 Duke is looking to add another win to its record Sunday against Navy at 1 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium and hopes to grow further offensively in preparation for ACC play.

“We are looking to continue to build and grow our team on Sunday,” head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “We will be looking for our team to come out and play hard the way they have all season.”

Although this is the first time the Blue Devils (8-1) are facing the Midshipmen (9-1), Kimel has some ties with the coaching staff from the other team.

Navy’s head coach Cindy Timchal was both Kimel’s and Duke assistant coach Alex Kahoe’s coach at Maryland, and the Midshipmen’s associate head coach is a former Blue Devil assistant as well.

With a .500 record in the ACC and seven victories from outside conference play, the Blue Devils have shown their ability to play with a new offensive unit as well as maintain a strong defense.

“We have definitely made good progress since the start of the season,” Kimel said. “All of our units are playing at a high level. Our defense leads the country in caused turnovers, and I was very pleased that we had so many players score in our win at Virginia Tech the other night.”

Navy is a third-year program and is particularly athletic and quick. Though a young team, the Midshipmen have been playing well this season, coming away with only one loss overall and a 1-0 record in conference play.

“They have big, strong, fast, well-endured athletes who score tons of goals,” Kimel said. “It should be a great game Sunday, and we look forward to establishing a tradition of playing them each year.”