When the Blue Devils fell to Virginia in the ACC Tournament, they realized two things—they could not take the one-and-done format for granted, and they would have to win without their leading scorer, senior Makenzie Hommel.
No. 8 Duke (12-5) will open the NCAA tournament with a shorthanded lineup, facing No. 17 Princeton (10-6), in the first round Friday at 7:15 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md. The team will take the field for the second time since losing Hommel to a concussion.
Against a then-No. 17 Cavaliers squad, the Blue Devils started slow and struggled with turnovers on the team’s first few possessions.
“[The Cavaliers] knew that if they didn’t beat us their season was over so they made some pretty drastic changes on the field that it took us three or four goals in to make adjustments,” Kimel said.
After the 14-minute mark in the first half, the Blue Devils could never manage to pull back within one goal, and with a 7-2 second-period draw-control advantage, Virginia maintained enough possession to stymie Duke.
The early exit, which marked the third consecutive year the Blue Devils have fallen in the first round of the ACC tournament, forced Kimel’s team to respond.
“The kids took initiative,” Kimel said. “They watched film without us and they kind of looked around like, ‘We got outhustled on the draw. We didn’t take care of the ball the way we normally do.’ And those are things we can control.”
That renewed commitment carried over to practice, as well as to Duke’s 18-9 rout of Boston University last Sunday.
“Especially in this past week of practice, there’s been a lot more sense of urgency and focus,” senior defender Lauren Martin said.
The victory over the Terriers also gave the Blue Devils an opportunity to play without Hommel and to give some less-experienced players added playing time.
“We’re a little banged up so we’ve had to call on some younger kids, some less-experienced kids to step up and play big in games, and by and large they’ve done that,” Kimel said.
Kimel added that junior defender Tara Stokes, who played just four games last season, and sophomore midfielder Katie Trees, who appeared in three games last year, have come to play greater roles for the team.
Trees, who also plays forward for Duke’s women’s soccer team, has grown in her knowledge of lacrosse and made a big impact in the last few games, Kimel said.
Continued all-around improvement will be vital for the Blue Devils as they continue through May without their senior scorer.
Hommel, who sustained a skull fracture her freshman year, is treating the injury on a day-to-day basis but had not been cleared to return to action as of Wednesday.
“It’s hard because she’s a senior and obviously she’s been a really big part of our offense but that’s why you have a team,” Kimel said. “In her absence other kids have stepped up.”
With or without Hommel, Duke will face a tough test in the Ivy league runner-up. The 2013 season marks the first year since 1997 that the two squads have not played in the regular season, and although the Blue Devils have won the last four contests in the series, the Tigers own the victory of the teams’ only postseason matchup, a triple overtime 9-8 win in 2000.
After the Virginia loss, Duke is prepared to take no team for granted.
“With this kind of urgent focus… I feel as though our team has been adequately prepared this past week to go forth and do great things in this tournament,” Martin said.
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