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No. 4 Duke Faces No. 1 Wake Forest For ACC Tournament Title on Sunday on Fox Sports Net
11/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
BOYDS, Md. - The reigning ACC Tournament Champion Blue Devils (15-3-1) will try to make it two straight as they face top-ranked and second-seeded Wake Forest (15-2-3) at 1:10 p.m. Sunday at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Md. Duke is coming off a 1-0 win in the semifinals against No. 6 Maryland while Wake Forest has won each of its first two ACC Tournament games via penalty kicks. The championship game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net.
Series History: Duke leads Wake Forest in the all-time series by a margin of 20-11-4. Duke has won the last three games against the Demon Deacons, including a thrilling 4-3 victory during the regular season at Winston Salem, N.C. Since that game on Sept. 8, the Demon Deacons have gone on a tear, posting a 11-1-3 record and climbing to the No. 1 ranking in all four major polls. Meanwhile, Duke has notched a 10-3-1 record and is currently ranked fourth in the nation. The two teams finished atop the ACC standings with identical 5-2-1 records against conference opponents, but Duke received the top seed in the ACC Tournament as a result of its regular season win against the Demon Deacons.
The Opponent: The Demon Deacons entered the ACC Tournament as the top-ranked squad in the country, but have needed penalty kicks to advance to the championship match. In the first round, Wake Forest played 110 minutes of scoreless soccer against seventh-seeded North Carolina before winning the shootout, 5-4, in six rounds. On Friday, Wake Forest kicked in an own goal to give Virginia a first-half lead, but found the back of the net with 36 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime. After two scoreless 10-minute periods, Wake Forest advanced with a 4-3 edge in the shootout. Wake Forest is led by a potent offense which averaged over two goals per game in the regular season. Senior midfielder Wells Thompson leads the team with six goals on the season, but 10 different Demon Deacons have scored this year and six players have found the back of the net on at least four occasions. Wake Forest's defense has been solid as well, holding opponents to just 15 goals in 20 games played. The defense is led by junior Brian Edwards in goal, who has played every minute for the Demon Deacons this season, notching 59 saves for an .808 save percentage during the regular season.
Last Time Out: Duke held on for a 1-0 win over Maryland in front of a boisterous crowd strongly in support of the Terrapins. Junior midfielder Joe Germanese tallied the lone goal off the game on a header from a Spencer Wadsworth cross. The goal was the fourth of the season for the transfer from Vanderbilt, and Wadsworth collected his ACC-best 13th assist of the year on the play. Duke controlled the tempo for most of the game, outshooting Maryland 18-6 and holding the opponent without a shot on goals. The win marked the second consecutive year in which Duke has dispatched the Terrapins in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
Rankings: The Blue Devils are ranked fourth in NCAA Division I, and have been ranked as high as second this season. Wake Forest climbed to No. 1 in all four major polls after defeating No. 2 Virginia to close out the regular season. The ACC has six teams in the top ten, and at one point this season had six teams in the top seven. Those teams are Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wake Forest. Virginia Tech has also been ranked this year.
All-ACC Teams Announced: 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. Announced Monday to the first team were junior midfielder Michael Videira and sophomore forward Mike Grella. Senior defender/captain Kyle Helton and 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.
Devil Defense: Duke's defense has allowed only nine goals in its last 14 matches, recording five shutouts in that time and not allowing more than one goal in any of those games. The Blue Devils have only allowed 16 goals in 19 games the entire season, and only twice has more than one goal been scored against them. Junior goalkeeper Justin Papadakis has been a major reason behind this success, with a .763 save percentage, 45 saves, and five shutouts. Junior captain Tim Jepson has anchored the defense with his leadership, strong work ethic, and team best 1609 minutes played. Helton has logged 1441 minutes on a defensive unit that has also added to Duke's scoring totals with three goals and six assists. Sophomores Darrius Barnes and Graham Dugoni have also seen increased playing time, combining for nearly 2500 minutes.
Middle of the Field: One of the strongest and deepest assets for the Blue Devils is their midfield. They are led by Hermann Trophy candidate Videira, with six goals and six assists. Senior captain Chris Loftus has played a combination of forward and midfield while recording four goals and three assists in his last campaign. Others contributing in the middle include juniors Tomek Charowski (two goals and three assists), Germanese (four goals and five assists) and Zach Pope (one goal and nine assists). Sophomore Pavelid Castaneda has been the workhorse for the Blue Devil midfield, recording 1481 minutes at the most physically taxing position on the field.
Pressing Forward: While Germanese and Loftus have 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 42 goals on the season, including 22 in their last nine games. Their very balanced attack has resulted in 14 different players scoring this year. Grella is Duke's number one goal scorer, notching 10 goals and adding four assists. Wadsworth is the other true forward and has accumulated six goals and an ACC best 13 assists.
Rennie Sets Records: Duke's Coach John Rennie is now the winningest coach in ACC history. He holds the records for most wins at an ACC school with 396, and for most wins in the conference with 91. Rennie overtook former Clemson coach I.M. Ibrahim in both categories. For Division I Men's Soccer coaches, Rennie is in fifth place with 440 overall wins.
Wadsworth Climbing Career Charts: Wadsworth's assist against Maryland was his 13th of the season and 32nd of his career at Duke. The junior from Dallas, Texas now ranks seventh on Duke's all-time assists chart, 13 behind record holder Tom Kain, who collected 45 assists in a Duke uniform. Immediately ahead of Wadsworth on the list is Clint Carnell, who amassed 34 assists during his four years in Durham from 1988-1991.
2006 ACC Men's Soccer Championship
First Round - Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Match 1: No. 9 N.C. State 4 - No. 8 Virginia Tech 3
Quarterfinal Round - Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Match 2: No. 2 Wake Forest 0 - No. 7 North Carolina 0 (Wake Forest advanced on penalty kicks 5-4)
Match 3: No. 1 Duke 2 - No. 9 N.C. State 1
Match 4: No. 3 Virginia 2 - No. 6 Clemson 0
Match 5: No. 4 Maryland 1 - No. 5 Boston College 0 (2 OT)
Semifinal Round - Friday, November 3, 2006
Match 6: No. 2 Wake Forest 1 vs. No. 3 Virginia 1 (Wake Forest advanced on penalty kicks 4-3)
Match 7: No. 1 Duke 1 vs. No. 4 Maryland 0
Championship Final - Sunday, November 5, 2006
Match 8: No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Wake Forest - 1:10 p.m. (televised by Fox Sports Net)
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