After a statement 3-0 road win against Pittsburgh, Duke continues its stretch of three straight road games against N.C. State Thursday and No. 2 Virginia Tech Saturday. The Blue Devils will look to open ACC play with a 3-0 record that could vault them back into the rankings.
“We hope to turn three [points] into nine [points] this weekend,” Duke head coach Robbie Church said . “In [the ACC], a win will get you three points, a tie will get you one, and a loss will get you nada.”
Duke’s first challenge of the week comes against N.C. State (2-5-2, 0-1 in the ACC) in Raleigh. The Blue Devils (5-4, 1-0) will play for a a highly-coveted three points and a 2-0 record against a Wolfpack team that fell 1-0 against Wake Forest Sept. 21.
Although the N.C. State game looks good for Duke on paper, Church warns that beating the Wolfpack could be “tricky.”
“[N.C. State] is hard to break down defensively, they put a lot of numbers behind the ball, and are dangerous on the counter-attack and set plays,” Church said. “We really have to go at State, we can’t afford to settle for long shots.”
The Blue Devils will head to Blacksburg, Va., Saturday to take on second-ranked Virginia Tech (10-0, 2-0). Last year, the Hokies eliminated Duke in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament by a score of 3-0. Church said that his team had not yet devised a game plan for Virginia Tech, as they cannot afford to overlook Thursday’s match against N.C. State.
“In this conference, you can’t sleep on anyone,” Church said. “We probably won’t create a strategy until Thursday night, after we play North Carolina State.”
Although Church has yet to create a strategy, one can be sure that it will involve defending Murielle Tiernan, Virginia Tech’s leading goal-scorer.
Duke’s young defense will be faced with the challenge of defending Tiernan, who leads the ACC with seven goals scored. The Blue Devils starting back four is composed of three freshmen and only one returning player, sophomore Lizzy Raben. Church has praised the group’s resiliency and aggressive style of play, but the squad has yet to face an offensive threat as dangerous as Tiernan this season.
“Although we play two very good opponents, I expect us to go 2-0 this weekend,” Raben said. “We’re going to need two very good performances to do it, but this team is capable of rising to the challenge.”
For the N.C. State match, the team will leave to play straight after classes, but at Virginia Tech, they will stay overnight. Church hopes that this time together on the buses and in the hotel will translate to better play together on the field.
The two matches will conclude a series of road games that Duke will play before its ACC home opener against Louisville Oct. 4. By the time that game rolls around, Church expects his squad to be atop the ACC standings.
“We have to have an aggressive mindset,” Church said. “We have to fight for every ball—fight for every [conference standing] point available, especially on the road. Only then will we have something to defend when we defend our home field.”
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Jacob Weiss is a Trinity senior. His column, "not jumping to any conclusions," runs on alternate Fridays.