The emphasis has been on the defense so far throughout conference play for Duke, but the offense will have to come alive this weekend.
The Blue Devils head south to face No. 22 Clemson at Historic Riggs Field Thursday at 7 p.m. before returning home to square off with in-state rival Wake Forest Sunday at 3 p.m. The good news for the Blue Devils is that they have only lost one game on the road this season and are 3-0-1 at home. The bad news is that the one loss and one tie came in their most recent contests.
Duke (6-5-1, 2-1-1 in the ACC) has been mired in a scoring slump throughout the past month, registering multiple goals in a match only once when the Blue Devils trounced Pittsburgh 3-0 Sept. 19. Since then, Duke has managed just one goal in three games and has been held scoreless for the past 286 minutes.
“You don’t sleep [because of this scoring issue],” head coach Robbie Church said. “That’s probably the most disappointing thing with this season is that some of the [problems] that were happening early in the year are still happening in October and that’s disappointing.
The offensive struggles are an issue that the Blue Devils and Church have been working on all season. Although Duke currently sits fourth in the ACC in total shots at 231, it is ranked eighth in goals scored with 17, resulting in a 7.4 percent shot success rate—dead last in the ACC.
“It’s not a lack of effort, it’s not a lack of trying… we’re getting a little jumpy and now it starts to snowball a bit,” Church said. “But you have to still believe in your kids and you have to believe that what you’re doing is the right thing.”
The defense, on the other hand, especially the back line, has established itself as the team’s strength in the second half of the season despite its inexperience. True freshmen Morgan Reid and Schuyler DeBree, sophomore Lizzy Raben and junior Kara Wilson—who is playing her first season at center back—make up the back line and have continued to develop and improve throughout the year.
In conference play, Duke has allowed only two goals in four games. Both of the goals came against then-No. 2 Virginia Tech—the ACC’s leading scorer—and one of the two was scored late in the match when Duke had substituted defenders for forwards and moved its back line up in an attempt to draw level.
The Blue Devil defense has tightened the screws against conference opponents, holding ACC opponents to 0.5 goals per game compared to their season average of 1.0 goals allowed per game.
“We’re team defending better than we have been earlier in the year,” Church said. “But if you’re talking about our back four—again you’ve got two freshmen, a junior who hasn’t ever played there, and a sophomore—we had a really young group, number one, and a very inexperienced group, number two, and for us to only give up 12 goals, with the schedule we’ve played and with the teams we’ve played has been phenomenal.”
The back line will be tested against Clemson (8-2-2, 1-2-1) Thursday night. The Lady Tigers have taken less shots than Duke on the season with 207 but have converted on more of their chances with 27 goals scored this season—fourth in the conference. Clemson has been led on offense by its young, quick forwards. Freshman Salma Anastasio and sophomores Catrina Atanda and Tori Andreski have combined for 13 of the Lady Tigers’ 27 goals.
Wake Forest (3-6-2, 1-2-1), on the other hand, could provide the Blue Devils with a slight reprieve from their incredibly difficult conference schedule. The Demon Deacons have scored only 11 goals this season and have allowed 19—both good for 12th in the conference.
The Blue Devils will need to earn as many points as possible this weekend, as they face the top three teams in the ACC during the final four games remaining on their regular season schedule. After Wake Forest, Duke will host No. 7 North Carolina, No. 4 Virginia and Boston College before ending the season on the road against No. 3 Florida State.
“It’s a big weekend for us and I don’t think anybody can hide that fact,” Church said. “We need to get wins and we need to continue to get points in the ACC…. We’re capable of beating both of these teams… and I still really believe in this team.”
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