Catriona Barry started in Duke’s midfield for every game of her first four years in Durham. She didn’t expect anything different in her final spring with the team.

But injuries on the attack had head coach Kerstin Kimel and her staff worried about the offense during fall ball. Assistant coach Brooke Griffin wondered aloud about moving Barry there permanently, even though her fall opportunities on that end of the field were sparse. The graduate student agreed to the change when the team came back to campus in January from winter break.

“I was excited,” Barry said. “I’ve always played midfield but have always enjoyed offense to a certain degree a little bit more. I hadn’t really had any experience playing low crease attack, so it was definitely new.”

Barry has benefited from focusing solely on offense in her fifth year, and the results for her and the No. 7 Blue Devils have been eye-popping — though not surprising. Barry was named the USA Lacrosse Magazine Division I Women’s Player of the Week after scoring a career-high 11 points on seven goals and four assists in Duke’s 22-13 win at High Point on Sunday. The 11 points also equaled Duke’s single-game program record.

Barry sits third nationally in points per game and has elevated Duke (4-0) to the top-ranked scoring offense at 23.00 goals per game. The Blue Devils host Wofford 4 p.m. Thursday.

“As we got closer to preseason, it made sense,” Kimel said. “Now those kids are back [from injury], and it makes us even better. Cat is our leader on the field. I look at how she helped the unit navigate through [Sunday’s] game and, no, I can’t imagine not having her there now.”

High Point posed a tough test into the third quarter. Barry reinforced that the Blue Devils needed a little more patience on attack, and they responded with a 10-goal run to pull away from what was a one-goal game at the time.

“Cat brings that dimension and IQ of understanding where we are in a game to a very talented and deep offense and midfield unit,” Kimel said.

Duke has ridden a formidable combination of ball possession and a balanced veteran attack to become the country’s highest scoring offense. Maddie Jenner set a new Duke record with 21 draw controls in the win over High Point, and the Tewaaraton Award nominee ranks first nationally with 15.75 draw controls per game.

“That’s something that at times goes unnoticed on our team because of how talented and how consistent Maddie is on the draw circle,” Barry said. “We’re definitely afforded way more possessions than most teams get in a game. Our ability to not take that for granted and go down and put the ball away is going to be really important in terms of maintaining our momentum and keeping the ball off our defensive end.”

Duke has had a top-30 scoring offense in each of the previous three full seasons, but the makeup of this year’s offense lends itself to being more productive and efficient than ever. The offense has a mix of experience and dynamic young contributors. Sophomore attack Katie DeSimone is tied with Barry for the team lead with 21 goals.

Olivia Carner, a junior midfielder, already has topped her career high with eight assists, tying Barry and senior Eva Greco for the team lead. Passing has been paramount with three of Duke’s first four opponents playing zone, and Duke is third in the nation at 11.5 assists per game.

“I think our team is a very selfless team,” Kimel said. “I think they want to win. They don’t care how they do it or who does it.”

Jenner has eight points, while sophomore Katie Keller, senior Anna Callahan, graduate student Katie Cronin and junior Caroline DeBellis all have seven points apiece. Ainsley Thurston, Maddie McCorkle and Lexi Schmalz have at least three goals apiece already. The Blue Devils have been able to run two midfield lines consistently — and sometimes even a third.

“We’re really experienced,” Kimel said. “In the years where we really struggled, 2018 and 2019, we were really young. We had a lot of freshmen on the field. I have six fifth-year kids. Of the six, five of them have been on the field since they were freshmen as starters or significant contributors.”

Duke wasn’t sure how the offense would run when Cronin, Greco and DeBellis were all questionable to return from injuries at the end of the fall.  Gabby Rosenzweig, who led the team last year in points and assists, along with Catherine Cordrey, who tied Barry as their fourth-leading scorer, had graduated. That prompted Barry’s position change.

“For me, the hardest challenge was not getting that time on defense,” Barry said. “I think I always valued that. If I wasn’t sticking my shots on offense, I could always fall back on hard work and gritty play on defense. Obviously being now an attacker, you lose that element outside of the ride. That was the biggest shift.”

Barry still helps in other ways. Against High Point’s strong draw unit, Duke utilized her versatility and put her on the circle. Barry had two draw controls to move only 10 away from fifth place on Duke’s all-time list.

“Cat is just so savvy when the ball is in the air or on the ground,” Kimel said. “She just has great proprioceptors. She just finds the ball in the air and gets to the ball on the ground. She’s a really special player like that.”

Barry has proven early that she can produce offensively at a high rate. With 21 goals and eight assists, Barry is only six points away from equaling her career high. To reiterate: she’s played just four games.

“Having Cat down there has added a level of dynamism to our offense,” Kimel said. “For her, people are saying we didn’t realize that Cat could do this. Well, Cat has been a midfielder. She’s been on the field since she was a freshman. In those early years, our team was really young. She’s literally started and played in every year since her freshman year. And when your attention is divided between two ends of the field, it’s hard to be great at one end.”

Barry joined the Duke program from Napa, Calif. A three-sport athlete at St. Ignatius Prep, Barry was surprised to be able to contribute immediately. She focused on doing the simple things and found herself on the field.

“First, she’s a great athlete,” Kimel said. “She has a great motor. She can run all day. She’s one of those kids. She has great instincts. She has great hands. And with it, she has a work ethic. She wants to be great. In truthfulness, it took her a while to develop the confidence that she could be a great player at this level.”

Duke gave her responsibility from the jump. The Blue Devils may have believed in her more than she believed in herself.

“My biggest challenge was the mental block that I deserve to be on this field, and I deserve to be playing with such talented players on the Duke team and across the ACC,” Barry said. “That’s definitely something I’ve had to work on — coming from California knowing my value. Over time, it obviously gets easier with experience.”

An All-ACC Academic Honor Roll member in each of her first four years at Duke, Barry has become a reliable leader. Each year, teammates vote on each player’s leadership qualities, and Barry has consistently led the team by hundreds in the points system the program devised.

“Cat’s a great teammate,” Kimel said. “I can’t say enough about what she’s been for our program and how she’s learned a lot through her early years when we weren’t very successful. I think it’s given her a lot of resolve and a lot of focus.”