Duke Earns No. 4 Seed; Will Play Boston College in ACC Tournament

DURHAM, N.C.-The Duke University men's soccer team will kick off postseason play on Wednesday, Nov. 10, in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal. The Blue Devils wrapped up the No. 4 seed after defeating third-place Wake Forest , 2-1, in the final regular season contest of the year. Duke will play fifth-seeded Boston College in the fourth quarterfinal game of the day at 8 p.m., at WakeMed Soccer Park's Koka Booth Stadium.

Duke finished the ACC regular season with 11 points off of a 3-3-2 record for sole possession of the fourth spot. Boston College closed out its conference campaign with a 2-2-4 mark for 10 points. Overall on the year, the Blue Devils are 9-4-4 and ranked 21st in the most recent NSCAA poll, while Boston College is 9-3-5 and ranked 20th.

The Blue Devils have been the No. 4 seed twice before and are 2-2-0 all-time in that spot. The last time Duke earned the fourth seed was in 1996 when it advanced to the semifinals with a win over No. 5 Clemson.

Duke is 18-18-3 all-time in ACC Tournament history and has been knocked out in the quarterfinal round each of the past two seasons. The fourth seed is the highest for Duke since earning the No. 3 spot in 2007. The Blue Devils have won five ACC titles, including three ACC Tournament championships. This will be the second consecutive year the Blue Devils and Eagles will meet in the ACC Quarterfinal as Boston College emerged with a 1-0 overtime win in 2009.

Sophomore striker Ryan Finley paces the offense with a Duke record 17 goals and three assists for 37 points, while senior Cole Grossman has eight goals and eight assists for 24 points. Junior Christopher Tweed-Kent leads the league with 11 assists and has 15 points overall on the year. Duke has won four of its previous five games and three consecutive heading into the postseason. Defensively, the Blue Devils are allowing 0.83 goals per game and just 11.2 shots per game. Sophomore goaltender James Belshaw has started all 17 games and owns a 0.76 goals against average and an .835 save percentage.

The winner of the contest will advance to the ACC Tournament semifinal against the winner of the North Carolina versus NC State/Virginia Tech quarterfinal match. The semifinal game is set for No. 12 at 8 p.m., on the main field, WakeMed Soccer Stadium.

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