After defeating Syracuse for the first time in 34 years last Sunday, the Blue Devils will have one last chance to improve before taking on No. 1 Virginia next week in the regular season finale.
In its matchup with Marist (4-3) Saturday, No. 8 Duke (9-3) will look to stretch its win streak to seven games and finish the season with a perfect 8-0 record at home.
“Our hope is that in April we just keep getting better, building upon all of our experiences,” head coach John Danowski said. “I think our team will be especially motivated because it’s our last home game.”
In the final game at Koskinen Stadium for the Blue Devil seniors, Duke will face a Marist attack anchored by Connor Rice and Jack Doherty, who have registered 25 and 20 points this season, respectively. Although that duo of juniors has led the Red Foxes to a winning record, Marist’s four wins have all come against unranked teams that have combined for a 10-28 record this season.
Duke will counter with an offense led by sophomore Jordan Wolf, who has notched 23 goals and 20 assists for a team-high 43 points. Robert Rotanz, whose four-goal performance propelled Duke to victory over Syracuse, is second on the team with 30 points.
On defense, Duke is coming off a strong performance—in the final 13:41 of Sunday’s game, they held Syracuse scoreless, limiting them to six shots and forcing four turnovers. The Blue Devils will look to repeat this success against the Marist team leaders, juniors Connor Rice and Jack Doherty, who have registered 25 and 20 points, respectively.
“We were delighted that we only gave up one goal in the fourth quarter [against Syracuse],” Danowski said. “Whomever you play against week after week, you want to try to be fundamentally sound defensively. You want to play great technique on the ball, and you want to play really well off the ball. The last part is that you hope your goalie has a good day. It’s a three-pronged effort.”
That third prong, the goalie, has been particularly crucial in the Blue Devils’ last two contests, as junior goalkeeper Dan Wigrizer staved off late comeback attempts by Brown and Syracuse with four fourth-quarter saves in each game.
Duke has focused on having to play less defense, however, by improving its performance on face-offs, where its 57.5-percent showing ranks ninth in the nation. Danowski credited sophomore Brendan Fowler and senior CJ Costabile for their success on face-offs, and they should have little trouble with a Marist squad that wins just 46.5 percent of its face-offs.
However, the Red Foxes might hold an advantage if penalties play a major factor Saturday. Marist converts on 52.8 percent of its man-up opportunites, while the Blue Devils have capitalized just 21.3 percent of the time. However, Danowski said that his team’s performance in these situations has improved of late.
“Since the Dartmouth game [Mar. 18] we’ve been 35 percent as a team extra-man,” Danowski said. “I think we’ve really been concentrating on a couple of simple plays, and we’ve settled on the personnel, so that’s really been helpful.”
A win Saturday would prove even more helpful in between a landmark win last weekend and what could be the team’s toughest matchup of the season next week.
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