Koskinen Stadium has provided that special winning formula for the Blue Devils this season. The atmosphere has been electric in Durham after the last two home ACC wins against North Carolina and Boston College.
After beating the Eagles at home this past Friday 1-0, the Blue Devils have their second match in a row at Koskinen Stadium against Appalachian State, Tuesday at 7 p.m. The story of the season has been the team’s success at home, with an unbeaten 4-0-1 record at home and an 0-3 record away from Koskinen Stadium. This portends success against Appalachian State tomorrow night as the Blue Devils will take a break their difficult ACC schedule.
Head coach John Kerr believes that their win against the then-No. 1 Tar Heels gives them the confidence to go and compete for an ACC championship and possibly even a national title.
“[The win] gave us confidence that we could compete with the best and beat the best,” Kerr said. “That gives us a lot of food for thought that we can play with anybody in this country.”
Duke’s (4-3-1, 2-1 in the ACC) high-octane offense is led by senior Sean Davis and freshman Cameron Moseley, but its defense will be looked on to contain a high-scoring Appalachian State offensive unit Tuesday. Senior defensemen Nat Eggleston and Jack Colemen will look to lead a Blue Devil back line that has only given up more than three goals once this season—a 5-0 loss to then-No. 5 Louisville. Senior Nick Palodichuck, who scored the game winner versus Boston College, will help take the defensive pressure off of Moseley and Davis, who have combined for 18 total points on six goals and six assists thus far.
The Blue Devils will have to be strong defensively to contain Appalachian State senior striker Stanley Broaden, who leads the team with five goals at this point in the season. The Wilmington, N.C., native will look to find holes in a Blue Devils defense that has not been too forgiving this year.
“We have to prepare ourselves professionally to try and prevent [Broaden] from getting the ball number one,” Kerr said. “And if he does get it to have cover and balance behind.”
After starting 0-2, Appalachian State (3-4-1) has gone 3-1 with the only loss to Radford in overtime. The Mountaineers are coming in on a hot streak and will look to spoil Duke’s string of marquee home wins.
“They are a good team. They are dangerous,” Kerr said. “They have couple guys upfront that are creative and fast and [Broaden] in particular is very athletic. They like to play a high tempo [offense]. So for example, when they play free kicks they like to play it early and when they throw [the ball] in on the sideline they will try to catch you off guard. So we need to be on our toes the whole time.”
Appalachian State junior midfielders Alex Herbst and Keegan Tanaka will look to stretch the field and create opportunities for Broaden and teammates. It will be a good test for a Blue Devils defense that let up 10 shots-on-goal against North Carolina in the first half alone. Challenging the Duke offense will be Mountaineer redshirt junior goalkeeper Paul West, who has started all eight games and has a save percentage of .690.
Duke will face a pair of ACC teams next in Wake Forest and Virginia, so notching a solid nonconference win will be optimal for the team’s momentum heading into the two-game road trip.
“Hopefully the fans will come out, because we are unbeaten at home so far and hopefully that trend continues,” Kerr said.
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