With only three games left to play in the regular season, every game is essentially a must-win for the Blue Devils.
Duke will continue their mission to qualify for the ACC tournament on Thursday night at 7 p.m. when they host N.C. State at Koskinen Stadium. It will be the Blue Devils’ first home game in nearly a month after playing four straight matches on the road.
“Wow, we’ve been away for so long, I think we might have to re-introduce ourselves to our home field,” head coach Robbie Church said. “It’s great to be home and to play on our field, where we’ve traditionally done very well.”
Duke (6-6-4, 3-4-3 in the ACC) will look to build on the momentum from their last game Sunday, when senior forward Laura Weinberg netted the game-winner in overtime against Notre Dame in a thrilling 2-1 victory. Following a six-match winless streak, the Blue Devils are now unbeaten in their last three contests and appear to be hitting their stride at just the right time.
“We’ve crawled and scratched and grinded to get back into the NCAA tournament,” Church said. “Most people had us out and dead two weeks ago, but coming up with a win at Maryland, a tie at Clemson and a win at Notre Dame has put us right back in the middle of things.”
Duke is currently tied with Maryland for ninth place in the ACC standings, just one point behind Boston College, which currently holds the final postseason slot. Teams that finish with records under .500 cannot qualify for the ACC tournament, so Duke will need at least one win and one tie in their last three games just to be eligible for a spot. With No. 3 North Carolina looming as the final opponent on their schedule, it becomes even more important that the Blue Devils picks up three points with a victory against N.C. State (6-11, 1-10).
“This game Thursday night is bigger than the Notre Dame game. It’s the biggest game of the year by far,” Church said.
Duke’s defense has keyed its stretch of success lately, yielding only two goals in its last three games. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Meghan Thomas has gotten the starting nod and played well in all three matches after Ali Kershner got most of the time in goal earlier in the season.
“Right now, we’re just taking [the goalkeeping situation] game by game,” Church said. “Meghan will start against N.C. State. She’s hot, and she’s done a great job.”
The Wolfpack have struggled recently and come into Thursday night’s matchup on a nine-game losing streak. Despite their poor conference record, N.C. State still poses some challenges that Duke will have to confront, mainly the Wolfpack's 3-4-3 formation.
The biggest challenge that Duke will face is stopping freshman forward Jackie Stengel, who has been a major force for N.C. State with nine goals scored on the season.
“Jackie Stengel up front is a very good player that gets on the end of a lot of their service balls,” Church said. “They’re a very, very dangerous team and it’s a local rivalry here, so we’re going to have to play very well on Thursday night.”
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