After winning its second consecutive John Rennie/Nike Invitational Tournament, Duke’s momentum was crushed with a disappointing loss against a struggling Southern Methodist side Friday night. Luckily for the Blue Devils, they won’t have to wait long for a chance at regaining a winning record.
Duke will take on Temple Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium for the second time in program history. Both programs are looking to rebound after Friday night road losses, Duke’s coming in Dallas and Temple’s coming at the hands of No. 16 Penn State.
“SMU was a really tough game for us, but this is a really great opportunity to bounce back,” senior midfielder Sean Davis said. “Temple’s a very good side and we definitely respect them. We know it’s going to be a tough game, but it’s a great opportunity for us.”
The Blue Devils feature six freshmen in their starting lineup and, led by Cameron Moseley’s five points on two goals and an assist, 15 of the team’s 32 points this season have come from freshmen. With 13 of the team’s 29 roster members being freshmen, Duke (1-1-1) must turn to its veteran leaders to demonstrate the resilience required to bounce back.
“It falls on all the seniors, the guys that have been here. We really need to take responsibility and show the way, leading by example,” Davis said.
Davis has assisted on three goals this season and seen strong play from fellow seniors. Midfielder Nick Palodichuk has a goal and two assists, forward Matt Slotnick has a goal and an assist and defender Nat Eggleston has been solid in the back. According to Davis, however, the experienced players must take some weight off of the freshmen’s shoulders by increasing their production.
Temple also relies heavily on a young core. The Owls start three freshmen, including Finnish forward Olli Tynkkynen, who has scored two of the team’s three goals this season and was named American Athletic Conference Week One Rookie of the Week.
In order to get back on the winning path, Duke will look to crack Temple’s strong defense. Despite a 1-2 record to open the season, the Owls have only given up two goals thus far, much to the credit of Preseason All-American Athletic Conference selections senior goalkeeper Dan Scheck, sophomore defender Robert Sagel and junior midfielder Jared Martinelli.
“We have to recognize openings and go at them at full force…. We didn’t have the intensity needed at this level to get it done,” head coach John Kerr said. “We just need intensity. We have to bounce back from a lackluster performance Friday night against a really tough team in Temple.”
Temple’s defense also features AAC Week One Defensive Player of the Week in Jonah Williams, a redshirt senior defender that helped lead a shutout performance against Sacramento State in which the Owls did not allow a single shot on goal. Duke will lean on its top offensive threats in Davis, sophomore Brody Huitema and junior Zach Mathers to find a way to put the ball in the back of the net.
Kerr cites intensity as the winning ingredient against Temple, while Davis—a Second-Team All-ACC selection a year ago—believes the team must simply perform better than it did in Dallas.
“We just need to execute better. We’re a lot better team than we showed,” said Davis.
The Blue Devils will look to bring intensity and execute better in the first half, especially against Temple. So far this season, Duke has been a great second-half team. Of the 10 goals Duke has scored, nine have come in the second half. Additionally, in the final 45 this season, it has only allowed one goal—a penalty kick at SMU—has outshot its opponents 23-16 and has six more corner kicks than its opponents.
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