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Third Round Of NCAA Tournament Pits No. 1 Duke Versus No. 10 Lehigh
11/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
DURHAM, N.C. - Top-seeded Duke (17-3-1) will go into battle with 16th seeded Lehigh (15-1-3) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m., in a third round NCAA Tournament match. The game will be played at Koskinen Stadium, and is only the second time since Duke made it to the College Cup in 1995 that the Blue Devils have hosted a third round NCAA match. The other year in that stretch that Duke hosted a third round game was in 2004, when the Blue Devils again made it to the College Cup in Carson, Calif.
Series History: The Blue Devils are 0-1 all-time versus the Mountain Hawks, with the lone loss coming in 2002 at Koskinen Stadium. The 2-1 defeat was a regular season contest between the two teams.
The Opponent: Lehigh, located in Bethlehem, Pa., is 15-1-3 this season, and won the Patriot League regular season title with a perfect 7-0 record. It is the first time in Patriot League history that a team has gone without a loss or tie in conference play. Their only loss came to Rutgers, 2-0 on Sept. 1. Duke and Lehigh had only one common opponent this season: American University. Duke beat American 3-1 on Sept. 1 at home, while Lehigh trounced the Eagles 4-0 at home on Sept. 30. The Mountain Hawks have had nine different players score goals for them this season, and have accumulated 37 goals for the season. Sophomore forward Jim Taranto has notched eight goals and four assists, freshman midfielder Jesse Schram has tallied four and five, freshman forward/midfielder Kyle Evans has recorded three and seven, and senior back John O'Reilly has scored six goals. At goalkeeper, the Mountain Hawks boast senior Jim Morahan, who has started all 19 games on his way to 59 saves, twelve shutouts, and a .894 save percentage. Morahan and the Lehigh defense have only let up seven goals all year.
Lehigh Ties: Duke Athletic Director Joe Alleva played football and baseball at Lehigh and was football captain in 1974. He received his bachelor's degree in finance in 1975, and served as a graduate assistant football coach for Lehigh, earning an MBA in 1976. Alleva began serving Duke in 1976 working for the vice president for business and finance.
Last Time Out: Duke shut out Brown 2-0 on Wednesday night in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Junior midfielder Michael Videira and sophomore forward Mike Grella notched goals for the Blue Devils, and junior goalkeeper Justin Papadakis recorded his seventh shutout of the season. Lehigh advanced to the third round by defeating Rhode Island 5-4 on penalty kicks after playing to a 1-1 tie in regulation. After trailing 1-0 with less than ten minutes remaining, sophomore midfielder/forward Adam Gazda scored his fourth goal of the season to send the game to overtime. Senior goalkeeper Jim Morahan stopped a pair of penalty kicks to send the Mountain Hawks into the sweet sixteen for the first time in school history.
Rankings: Duke is ranked number one in the country, a feat they accomplished in the last poll of the regular season, after defeating then number one Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament final on Nov. 5. The Blue Devils began the season ranked 12th, and have stayed in the rankings all year. Lehigh was ranked 10th in the last poll, and have been as high as eighth. The Mountain Hawks were unranked at the start of the year, and cracked the polls on Oct. 10.
Awards, Awards, and More Awards: The Blue Devils have claimed numerous awards as the regular season and conference tournament portions of the year have come to an end. Five Blue Devils were named to the three All-ACC teams, and four to the top two teams, which tied Duke with Virginia for most players honored this year on the first and second teams. Named to the first team were Grella and Videira. Senior defender/captain Kyle Helton and junior forward Spencer Wadsworth were selected to the second team, while freshman midfielder Joshua Bienenfeld was named to the All-ACC Freshmen Team. It was the highest number of Blue Devils selected to All-ACC teams since 2000, and was the third year in a row that Videira has been named All-ACC.
After Duke won the ACC Tournament for the second year in a row, junior midfielder Joe Germanese, junior defender/captain Tim Jepson, Videira, and Wadsworth were all named to the All-ACC Tournament Team. Videira took home Most Valuable Player of the Tournament honors. For Wadsworth, 2006 marked the second straight year in which he was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Jepson and Videira were also named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District Teams for their performances on the field and in the classroom. Academic qualifications include having a 3.2 GPA or better. Duke is in District 3, which includes the Southern Atlantic states. Jepson was named to the second team, and Videira made the first team, which qualifies him for national Academic All-America honors.
Five Blue Devils were named to Top Drawer Soccer's national end of the season teams. Videira and Grella were awarded first team honors, while Helton was placed on the third team and Wadsworth on the fourth. Five teams were named, encompassing college players from around the country. Bienenfeld was named to the All-Rookie second team, with only two rookie teams being named.
Videira was also listed earlier this week as one of the 15 finalists for the 2006 Missouri Athletic Club's Hermann Trophy. The Hermann Trophy is awarded each year to the nation's top collegiate soccer player. The Milton, Mass., native was a semifinalist last year as well. The winner will be announced at a banquet in St. Louis, Mo., on Dec. 2, which is the night before the NCAA Division I men's championship game.
Devil Defense: Duke's defense has allowed only two goals in its last seven games, and nine in its last 16. The Blue Devils have recorded seven shutouts in those 16 games, and have not allowed more than one goal in any of those games. The Blue Devils have only allowed 16 goals in 21 games the entire season. Only twice has more than one goal been scored against them, and that has not happened since Sept. 8. Papadakis has been a major reason behind this success, with a .781 save percentage, 50 saves, and seven shutouts. Jepson has anchored the defense with his leadership, strong work ethic, and team best 1796 minutes played. Helton has logged 1628 minutes on a defensive unit that has also added to Duke's scoring totals with three goals and eight assists. Sophomores Darrius Barnes and Graham Dugoni have also seen increased playing time, combining for over 2850 minutes.
Middle of the Field: One of the strongest and deepest assets for the Blue Devils is their midfield. They are led by Videira with seven goals and six assists. Others contributing in the middle include juniors Tomek Charowski (two goals and three assists), Germanese (four goals and six assists) and Zach Pope (1 goal and nine assists). Sophomore Pavelid Castaneda has been the workhorse for the Blue Devil midfield, recording 1668 minutes at the most physically taxing position on the field, while tallying one goal and one assist. Bienenfeld has become a key contributor as well, with a goal and an assist in 763 minutes played.
Up Front and Personal: Senior captain Chris Loftus has played a combination of forward and midfield while recording four goals and three assists in his last campaign, but will not play Sunday due to injury. Junior forward Paul Dudley (one goal) will play in place of Loftus. While Loftus has spent time playing forward this season, the Blue Devils only play two true strikers. This has not resulted in a lack of scoring, as Duke has tallied 45 goals on the season, including 25 in their last eleven games. Their very balanced attack has resulted in 14 different players scoring this year. Duke's number one goal scorer is Grella, with 12 goals and four assists. Wadsworth is the other true forward, and has accumulated six goals and an ACC best 13 assists. Wadsworth is also third in NCAA Division I for total assists.
Rennie Sets Records: Coach John Rennie is now the winningest coach in ACC history. Rennie has 398 career victories at Duke, and 91 wins in ACC play. Rennie overtook former Clemson coach I.M. Ibrahim in both categories. He also is in fifth place for Division I coaches with 442 overall wins. Rennie has taken Duke to the NCAA Tournament in 19 of his 28 years as head coach. The Blue Devils had only been to the tournament once before Rennie took over.
A Look Ahead: The NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament runs through Dec. 3. If Duke should win on Sunday, they would play at home in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Nov. 26 at 1:00 p.m. That match would be against either ninth-seeded Clemson (13-4-2) or eighth-seeded UCLA (11-5-4). Clemson defeated Gardner-Webb 3-1 to advance, while UCLA knocked off Harvard 2-1. The Tigers and the Bruins will face off at UCLA on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The 2006 Men's College Cup Final Four takes place in St. Louis on Dec. 1 and 3, with the final game being televised on ESPN2 at 3:00 p.m. E.S.T.
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