Not much has gone wrong for Duke this year.
Off to their best start in school history, the Blue Devils have risen from unranked to No. 4 in just the opening month of the season. The recognition that accompanies such a hot start, however, has led to increased expectations.
No. 4 Duke (9-1) will take on Miami (7-1) Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium. The red-hot Blue Devils, coming off a 2-1 victory over then-No. 3 Florida State last Sunday, will certainly be expected to take care of business at home against an unranked, but nonetheless formidable, conference opponent—even though the Hurricanes have won seven consecutive games.
Duke head coach Robbie Church believes his team is taking these newfound expectations in stride by continuing to work extremely hard and remain humble.
“We’re happy with what we’ve done so far,” Church said, “but we’ve got a lot of ACC games to go. We have consecutive home games here and we want to make sure we get both of them. We had the best Tuesday practice, I think, that we’ve had all year, after our off-day on Monday.”
Miami has earned a reputation as an athletic, physical team that competes aggressively against its opponents.
“I was tired after just watching the tape [of the Hurricanes],” Church said.
The Blue Devils will need to counter by competing for every ball and establishing numbers behind the ball from the game’s outset, Church said. More importantly, they will need to execute through Miami’s trademark defensive pressure.
“I don’t think we did a particularly great job executing under pressure against Florida State, or at least we weren’t able to do it consistently,” Church said. “We’ll need to be better on Thursday.”
Duke can negate Miami’s aggressive, wear-you-down mentality with its deep bench, which was largely responsible for the victory over the Seminoles. In that game, four subs, led by senior Chelsea Canepa, entered during the 32nd and 33rd minutes and propelled Duke to a 1-0 lead. Church expects to deploy his bench similarly Thursday, and has significant confidence in its ability.
“We use our depth well,” Church said. “They know their roles and are always ready to play. They come in and immediately put pressure on teams. It’s a situation where I really do believe we have more than 11 starters.”
And as for the members of the starting 11, no one has generated more buzz than freshman Kelly Cobb, who leads the team with seven goals and has also picked up four assists. As the Blue Devils push farther into ACC play, expectations for her own performance continue to grow, mirroring how expectations have grown for the entire group.
Nonetheless, the team remains focused on the task at hand—handling an aggressive Miami squad.
“We try not to think like that,” sophomore forward Mollie Pathman said. “We go into each game focusing on us, not worrying about what others think and try to live in the moment.”
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