After suffering their first home loss of the season—marking their third-straight defeat—the Blue Devils will look to rebound in an ACC clash against NCAA defending champions Notre Dame.
Duke takes on the Fighting Irish Friday at 8 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium, its third and final match of the week. The Blue Devils dropped an overtime 2-1 heartbreaker to Davidson Tuesday in what would be their first loss at home this year. The defeat came after a tough 1-0 loss to then-No. 14 Virginia Saturday and a second half meltdown against Wake Forest last Friday.
"We had a really good game against Virginia where we played exceptionally well. That took a lot out of us and we were disappointed not to get a tie out of that game,” head coach John Kerr said. “Against Davidson…we probably had the better chances and more of them. We just couldn’t capitalize and it was a frustrating loss because we deserve better. It’s been a tough week here with the Wake Forest loss too."
No. 9 Notre Dame (7-3-2, 3-1-1 in the ACC) has played well away from home, posting a 2-1-2 record and will certainly be a difficult match for unranked Duke (5-6-1). The Fighting Irish are coming off two big wins, as they secured a 1-0 win against then-No. 19 Northwestern and a 3-2 overtime win against then-No. 16 Louisville. Earlier this year, the same Cardinal squad trampled the Blue Devils in a 5-0 shutout.
“Hopefully we can rebound and regain some form for tomorrow night’s game against Notre Dame because they are very difficult to play against,” Kerr said. “They are an experienced group with a lot of fifth-year players. We have a young group that’s still progressing [and] still improving, but we’re very talented. Hopefully we can duplicate the big win we had against No. 1 North Carolina a couple weeks ago.”
Fortunately for Duke, it will welcome back two of its biggest catalysts on offense—captain Sean Davis and leading scorer Cameron Moseley—back on the pitch for tomorrow’s matchup. Davis practiced Thursday for the first time in a week and looked to have recovered from his hamstring injury. He returned to the starting lineup for the Virginia game after missing the majority of three games but wasn’t at full strength. He then missed the Davidson contest but will likely play a big role Friday if he suits up.
Since the Wake Forest game, Moseley has been sidelined with a thigh strain and had to miss the last two matches. Returning both starters would be a big boost to the Blue Devil offense, which sorely missed their leading playmaker in Davis—who has a team-leading five assists—and Moseley, as the freshman currently ranks second in the ACC in goals per game.
During the time Duke’s offensive leaders have been sidelined, Notre Dame midfielder Patrick Hodan has been coming up big for his team. He scored the only goal of the game against Northwestern on a penalty kick and netted the game-winning goal in overtime against Louisville. Hodan has four goals and two assists on the year and will be a focal point for the Fighting Irish offense.
“We have to watch out for their movement,” Kerr said. “In particular, they have their outside backs attack quite a bit so we’re very wary about how the adjustments will be made to accommodate their backs getting forward.”
Offensively, the two teams are similar, as Duke actually holds a slight advantage with 1.75 goals per game compared to Notre Dame's 1.42 goals per game. Defense, however, is where there is a sharp contrast between the two.
The Fighting Irish have yielded only 0.83 goals per game—good for third in the ACC. The Blue Devils, on the other hand, have been gashed to the tune of 1.83 goals per game, which ranks last in the conference.
Duke's average is not as drastic when considering that nine of its 22 allowed goals came in two games—Louisville and Wake Forest—and the Blue Devils have allowed just 13 goals through their 10 other games. Duke will need to avoid the defensive lapses that have led to early large deficits if it hopes to take down the defending champs.
“What needs to happen is some of our younger guys who have been prolific scorers at the youth level need to step up and show their capabilities,” Kerr said. “Certainly Cameron Moseley’s gotten off to a great start with five goals already. We’re going to start opening up the offense and jumping on the scoring charts. It should be fun. [Notre Dame] is the defending champions. What else do you need to get excited?”
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