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Duke Set for Another Top 20 Matchup at Notre Dame
10/19/2017 11:40:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Game 15
No. 15 Duke (10-3-1, 3-3-0) at No. 12 Notre Dame (9-4-1, 3-2-1)
October 20, 2017 | 7 p.m. | ACC Network Extra
Notre Dame, Ind. | Alumni Stadium
ACC Network Extra | Live Stats | Twitter
SETTING THE SCENE
Duke hits the road for the final time of the regular season for another top 20 matchup. The 15th-ranked Blue Devils take on No. 12 Notre Dame Friday at 7 p.m., at Alumni Stadium. Friday's game features the third straight top 20 opponent for the Blue Devils.
DUKE – NOTRE DAME BY THE NUMBERS
3-1-0 – Duke's road record in 2017 with two of those wins coming against top 25 teams
6-2-1 – Notre Dame's home record this year after suffering consecutive shutout losses
9 – Goals by Brian White in 2017, a career-high, third in the league and tied for 14th in the nation
188:19 – Minutes since Notre Dame has scored a goal, after suffering consecutive shutouts at home
0 – Times Duke has shut out the Irish in the 10 previous meetings
16-21-5 – Duke's ACC road record since 2008
9-0-1 – Duke's record when scoring first this season
6 – Duke's RPI in the most recent RPI
5 – Notre Dame's RPI heading into Friday's matchup
5-13-2 – Duke's record under John Kerr against top 25 foes when ranked in the top 25
177 – Of the 6440 minutes Duke has played in the past three seasons in which Markus Fjørtoft has not been on the field
SERIES HISTORY
- Duke and Notre Dame are playing for the 11th time overall and the eighth time as ACC foes. The Irish lead the series 7-3-0 and 6-1-0 since 2012.
- Each of the past three meetings have been decided in overtime with Duke winning last year's regular season matchup in dramatic fashion in double overtime. The Blue Devils have never won in Notre Dame, going 0-5-0.
DUKE REACHES 10 WINS
- With a 10-3-1 overall record, Duke reached the 10-wins mark for the first time since 2015 and for the sixth time under head coach John Kerr.
- Kerr's 2009 squad had 14 wins, the most by a Blue Devil team in his tenure.
LAST TIME OUT
- Clemson took an early 2-0 lead before Brian White notched his ninth goal of the year to cut it in half. A red card to the Blue Devils forced Duke to play a man down for the final 48 minutes and the Tigers capitalized on the extra man advantage and scored twice early in the second half to solidify the win.
- In goal, Will Pulisic made five saves, while the Blue Devils were held without a corner kick for the first time this season.
LAST TIME WE MET
- Notre Dame's John Gallagher knocked home a loose ball with 55 seconds left in the first overtime to lead the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish to a 3-2 victory over No. 10 seed Duke in a heartbreaking finish for the Blue Devils in the ACC Championship first round.
- The game in Notre Dame was a back-and-forth affair. The Irish grabbed the early lead before Duke equalized. Notre Dame went ahead again in the 71st minute, but the Blue Devils tied it moments later to force overtime.
- In the 2016 regular season meeting, then-rookie Brandon Williamson was the hero for the Blue Devils, netting two goals to lead Duke to the 2-1 double overtime win over the No. 4 Irish. Robert Moewes had seven saves in the win.
IN COMMON
- Duke and Notre Dame share three common ACC opponents in Virginia Tech, Clemson and Pittsburgh. Duke went 2-1-0 in the three outings, while Notre Dame went 1-2-0.
| Opponent | Duke | ND |
| Virginia Tech | W, 3-1 | L, 1-2 |
| Clemson | L, 1-4 | W, 2-1 |
| Pittsburgh | W, 2-0 | L, 0-1 |
DUKE STAYS IN POLLS
- Duke moved up to 15th in the most recent coaches' poll, its highest ranking since it was ninth Oct. 1, 2010.
- Duke, ranked for the fourth straight week, is ranked for multiple consecutive weeks for the first time since it was in the top 25 for seven straight weeks during the 2010 season.
DUKE MOVES UP ONE IN RPI
- Duke debuted at No. 12 in the first nationally released RPI rankings and moved up to seventh following a pair of victories and up again to sixth after a pair of road wins.
- Duke's No. 6 RPI is the highest under head coach John Kerr and the best since the final No. 3 ranking in 2006.
- The Blue Devils are one of seven ACC programs in the top 10 and they have games remaining against Nos. 5 and 10.
RPI Top 15
| 1. | North Carolina | Atlantic Coast | 11-2-1 |
| 2. | Wake Forest | Atlantic Coast | 13-1-0 |
| 3. | Maryland | Big Ten | 10-0-3 |
| 4. | Michigan State | Big Ten | 10-2-2 |
| 5. | Notre Dame | Atlantic Coast | 9-3-1 |
| 6. | Duke | Atlantic Coast | 10-3-1 |
| 7. | Indiana | Big Ten | 12-0-2 |
| 8. | Clemson | Atlantic Coast | 10-3-0 |
| 9. | Louisville | Atlantic Coast | 9-1-3 |
| 10. | Virginia | Atlantic Coast | 9-1-3 |
| 11. | Western Mich. | Mid-American | 11-2-1 |
| 12. | Georgetown | Big East | 9-2-1 |
| 13. | Michigan | Big Ten | 8-4-2 |
| 14. | Pittsburgh | Atlantic Coast | 8-6-0 |
| 15. | Air Force | Western Athletic | 9-1-3 |
ABOUT THE BLUE DEVILS
- Duke begins the homestretch of the regular season with another top 20 match. The Blue Devils, on the strength of the ranked road win at Georgetown, jumped up to 15th in the coaches' poll. The Blue Devils are 10-3-2 overall and 3-3 in league play.
- Brian White headlines the offense with nine goals and an assist for 19 points. His nine tallies are a career best and rank 14th nationally. Daniele Proch is next in line with four goals and 10 points overall in his first year as a Blue Devil and Markus Fjørtoft and Cameron Moseley have contributed three goals. Outside back Carter Manley has a team-high four assists.
- Will Pulisic is 10-3-1 in goal with a 1.12 goals against average and a .738 save percentage. He owns 45 saves and an ACC-best five shutouts in his 14 starts.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
- Notre Dame enters Friday night's contest on a two-game home losing streak. The Fighting Irish are 9-4-1 overall and 3-2-1 in conference action, but have suffered back-to-back shutouts at home to Pittsburgh (1-0) and Akron (2-0). The Irish has been held without a goal for the past 188:19.
- Jon Gallagher paces the offense with 10 goals and 22 points overall, while Jeff Farina has six goals and a team-best five assists. The Irish has played just 16 players this season and six have scored a goal. Notre Dame averages 1.57 goals per game and 14 shots per game.
- In goal, Chris Hubbard has played all 1,299 minutes and owns a 0.90 goals against average and a .723 save percentage. He has been forced to make just 34 saves in 14 games as Notre Dame allows just 3.36 shots on goal per game. Notre Dame leads the nation in fouls per game (7.71).
DUKE vs. NOTRE DAME TRENDS
- Each of the past three meetings between Duke and Notre Dame have been decided in overtime. Both of the 2016 contests went into extra sessions with the Blue Devils and Irish splitting home wins.
- In addition, the past three games have averaged 4.33 combined goals per game. Overall, since 2008, Duke and Notre Dame have had a couple high-scoring affairs and are averaging 3.5 combined goals in the past eight games.
KERR NEARING CENTURY MARK
- Head coach John Kerr is nearing his 100th win at Duke. In his 10th season, Kerr needs just four more victories to become only the second Duke coach in program history to reach the century mark.
- Kerr's mentor and head coach, John Rennie, won 410 games in his 29 seasons at Duke and still ranks 22nd all-time across all three divisions with 454 wins overall. He is ninth among Division I coaches.
- Kerr's current .578 win percentage is fourth among Duke coaches with Rennie leading the way at .706. Roy Skinner (1966-76; 71-45-5) is second at .607, while inaugural head coach K.C. Gerard (1935-48; 41-27-10) finished with a .589 win percentage.
DUKE vs RANKED TEAMS
- Duke will play its sixth ranked team Friday against Notre Dame. The Blue Devils dropped tough one-goal losses to then No. 8 North Carolina (2-1) and No. 8 Louisville (1-0) and upset No. 11 Syracuse and No. 10 Georgetown on the road before a tough 4-1 setback to Clemson. They have two more ranked opponents on the schedule.
- Under John Kerr, Duke is 9-14-1 against ranked teams when unranked and 5-13-2 against top 25 teams when also ranked in the top 25.
- The Blue Devils own three top 25 wins in a season twice, winning three in 2015 and 2008. Duke is 2-1-0 in 2017 and went 2-6-0 last year.
Under Kerr
- Ranked when Unranked: 9-14-1
- Ranked when Ranked: 5-13-2
- Unranked when Ranked: 21-16-8
ACC ON THE ROAD
- Duke heads to Notre Dame for its final regular season road trip. The Blue Devils own ACC road wins at Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
- The Blue Devils went 1-3 in ACC regular season road games in 2016, and in a testament to the difficulty of the league, have never won more than three ACC road games since 2008.
ACC on the Road
| Year | Record | Pct. |
| 2008 | 2-1-1 | .625 |
| 2009 | 1-3-0 | .250 |
| 2010 | 1-2-1 | .375 |
| 2011 | 1-2-1 | .375 |
| 2012 | 2-1-1 | .625 |
| 2013 | 3-2-1 | .583 |
| 2014 | 2-3-0 | .400 |
| 2015 | 1-3-0 | .250 |
| 2016 | 1-3-0 | .250 |
| 2017 | 2-1-0 | .667 |
| Total | 16-21-5 | .440 |
STRONG STARTS
- Duke has scored a goal in the first half of nine of its 10 wins this season and in 11 of the 14 games. The Blue Devils already have 12 first-half goals this season after tallying just 10 goals overall in the opening 45 minutes in all of 2016.
- The Blue Devils are 9-0-1 overall when scoring first and 1-3-0 when their opponent nets the first tally. Duke has led at the half eight times, winning all eight of those. It is 0-3 when trailing at the break.
WHITE RIDING STEADY SCORING PACE
- Senior striker Brian White is averaging 0.64 goals per game and to rank third in the ACC and among the top 30 nationally. He has nine goals in 14 games and has one in each of the past three games.
- He buried two of goals against Fordham in August to record his first multiple goal game of his career.
- White is third in the ACC with nine goals and one of only 28 Division I players to have at least nine goals on the year. His 19 points are eighth in the ACC and rank tied for 35th nationally.
UP NEXT
- Duke will close out the final week of the regular season with a pair of home games. The Blue Devils welcome Delaware Oct. 24 and finish the campaign versus Virginia Oct. 27. Both games will be aired on ACC Network Extra.
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