A full week of uninterrupted practice will prepare the women's soccer team for the upcoming game against Duke.
The team travels to Durham, N.C., Friday to battle Duke and the University of North Carolina Sunday.
"We're really excited," said Head Coach Karen Hoppa. "Duke is one of the top soccer programs in the country, so this is a great opportunity for us to play at a really high level of competition."
Last season Duke had a 15-6-3 record and a 4-3-3 finish in the ACC. They were was ranked No. 14 in the Soccer America Poll and No. 16 in the NSCAA preseason ranking.
Thus far, Duke has had five wins and three losses. The team is currently ranked 10 out of 11 in the ACC.
"I'm very excited for the challenge," said senior forward Becca Howell. "I know a couple players from Duke, and I think it's going to be a really exciting game."
The entire team shares that excitement.
"We're all looking forward to it, and we're really excited to be able to show that we can play competitively in the ACC," said junior defender and captain Sammy Towne.
Towne thinks the team has nothing to worry about, and the Tigers will pull out a win.
"If we keep defending the way we have been, we're going to be perfectly OK," Towne said.
Hoppa said the team will not prepare any differently for Duke than it does for any other opponent.
"We will watch films, get a scouting report and prepare accordingly," Hoppa said.
Howell said she likes to visualize herself scoring goals. She said she will go to keeper training every day this week to shoot an extra 100 goals before practice.
"When it comes time to score during a game, it will be somewhat of a habit," Howell said.
As a team, preparation for games goes differently.
"We'll do scouting, figure out their formations, how to defend against them and how to utilize our offense against their defense," Towne said. "Then we'll play small-sided games. Hopefully that will be enough for us to get the job done."
Auburn has not played Duke in more than 10 years, so the team does not know exactly what to expect.
More than half of Duke's starters are returning, so Hoppa and the team expect their opponent to be strong.
"Katy (Frierson) will have to be on offensively in order for us to click, and our back line has to be on top of things the whole time," Hoppa said.
Hoppa said the team has to "play to win" in order to be successful.
"We've got to play our game," Howell said. "We can't change to play somebody. We have to play our possession-oriented game. If we do that, we'll do well."
Howell expects Duke to be a strong defensive team.
Towne's advice to the team was, "Play hard. Play 110 percent for the whole 90 minutes."
Towne said it will be important for the Auburn team to stay confident.
"We just need to remember that we're a good team," Towne said.
Auburn takes on Duke at 7:30 p.m. EST Friday and UNC on Sunday at noon in Durham.
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