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Men's Soccer Opens 2011 Season on Friday Night
Game 1
August 26, 2011 l 8 p.m.
No. 23 Duke vs. UNC Greensboro
Greensboro, N.C. l UNCG Soccer Stadium
DURHAM, N.C.-The Duke University men's soccer team kicks off the 2011 season on Friday night at UNC Greensboro. The Blue Devils and Spartans square of at 8 p.m. at UNCG Soccer Stadium. Admission is free to the match.
Follow the Action Online
Fans can follow all of the men's soccer game online at GoDuke.com. UNCG will be providing a live video feed and live stats ... Fans can chat about the game on the live blog at GoDuke.com ... Live updates also will be available through Twitter @Duke_MSOC.
Setting the Scene
Duke opens the 2011 season on Aug. 26 with a road match at UNC Greensboro ... The Blue Devils are opening their season on the road for the first time since 2008 ... Duke is 55-16-4 all-time in season openers, 14-6-1 in true road games and 6-3-0 in neutral contests to start the year ... This is the first time Duke has faced UNCG in a season opening game.
The Series History
Duke and UNC Greensboro are meeting for the 18th time since the first contest in 1978 ... The Blue Devils lead the series 13-4-0 and are 3-2 in the previous five outings ... The Spartans officially joined the Division I ranks in 1991 ... Duke is 7-2 against UNCG as a Division I program ... This marks only the third time Duke has played at UNCG with the Blue Devils holding a 2-0 record in Greensboro.
Duke in the National Rankings
The Blue Devils begin the season ranked among the top 25 in four preseason polls ... Duke is rated 11th by Goal.com, 12th by Soccer America, 16th by CollegeSoccerNews.com and 23rd in the NSCAA poll.
Scouting the Blue Devils
Duke heads into the 2011 season after posting a pair of 1-1 ties at the ShinDigZ National Soccer Festival in Fort Wayne, Ind., last weekend. Duke tied 17th-ranked Indiana and IPFW at the weekend event ... The Blue Devils welcome back seven starters from last year's squad, including three all-region selections and four All-ACC choices.
Duke Picked to Finish 5th in ACC
Duke was picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2011 in a vote of the league's nine head coaches ... The Blue Devils received one first-place vote and finished with 48 points in the voting ... North Carolina was picked to win the league with Maryland, Virginia and Wake Forest rounding out the top four, respectively.
Scouting UNC Greensboro
UNC Greensboro went 1-0-1 in its two exhibition games, tying NC State 0-0 and defeating UNC Pembroke 3-2 ... The Spartans return eight starters and 14 letterwinners from last year's squad that advanced to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Southern Conference crown ... Leading the returners is junior forward Hakan Ilhan after tallying 12 goals and 31 points overall last year ... Justin Maullin is in his second season as the head coach.
Follow Duke on Twitter
The Duke men's soccer team is on Twitter ... Fans can follow @Duke_MSOC for in-game updates, pictures from Duke's travels and more.
Duke Returns Six Starters
The Blue Devils welcome back six starters to the 2011 roster ... Headlining the group is 2010 NSCAA All-America first team honoree Andrew Wenger ... All-Region honorees James Belshaw and Sebastien Ibeagha also will be back to help anchor the backline ... Senior Christopher Tweed-Kent will be back in the midfield along with sophomores Rob Dolot and Jonathan Aguirre ... Tweed-Kent is Duke's top returning scorer after posting two goals and a league-best 11 assists for 15 points.
Duke Welcomes Nine Freshmen to Program
Nine freshmen join the squad for the 2011 season ... Jake Butwin (Old Westbury, N.Y.), Sean Davis (Holmdel, N.J.), Nat Eggelston (Chevy Chase, Md.), Wilson Fisher (Birmingham, Ala.), Chase Keesling (Cary, N.C.), Andrew Morales (Rocky Mount, N.C.), Nick Palodichuk (Battleground, Wash.), Matt Slotnick (Greenlawn, N.Y.), Riley Wolfe (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) ... Palodichuk spent the spring semester in classes, while the remaining eight joined the team for the first time in the fall.
Tough Schedule
Duke has a tough schedule ahead in 2011 ... The Blue Devils are scheduled to face six teams, including three in the top five, of the NSCAA preseason poll ... The Blue Devils first ranked opponent will be No. 14 UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 2 ... Duke finished the 2010 season with a 1-3-2 record against ranked foes.
|
Opponent |
Preseason Rank |
Current Rank |
|
UC Santa Barbara |
14 |
NA |
|
SMU |
5 |
NA |
|
Virginia |
22 |
NA |
|
North Carolina |
3 |
NA |
|
Maryland |
4 |
NA |
|
Boston College |
25 |
NA |
Duke to Appear on FSC Twice in 2011
The Blue Devils will have two games that will be featured on Fox Soccer Channel ... Duke vs. Virginia on Sept. 9 and the annual rival matchup with North Carolina on Sept. 30 will be broadcast live by FSC ... Both games kick off at 7 p.m. ... Duke also can be seen on ESPN3.com when it travels to Maryland for a 7 p.m., contest on Oct. 14.
Home Sweet Home
Duke enters the 2011 20-2-2 at home in the past 24 matches ... Duke's two losses came against North Carolina in 2010 and NC State in 2009 ... The Blue Devils went 12-1 at home in 2009 and 8-1-2 in 2010.
John Kerr Enters Fourth Season at Duke
Head coach John Kerr enters his fourth season at Duke ... Kerr holds a 34-21-6 record as the Blue Devils leader and had led Duke into the NCAA Tournament in each of his three seasons ...Under Kerr's direction, the Blue Devils have earned at least one of the three ACC major awards every year, including two of the three in 2010 ... Kerr is 115-80-19 for his career.
Belshaw, Trnka-Amrhein, Wenger to Lead Duke
The trio of senior Jan Trnka-Amhrein and juniors James Belshaw and Andrew Wenger were voted to lead the Blue Devils as captains this season ... Belshaw and Trnka-Amrhein both are goalkeepers, while Wenger will headline the offense.
Wenger Collects Preseason Honors
Junior Andrew Wenger comes into his third season highly touted ... The Lititz, Pa., native was picked by TopDrawerSoccer.com as the top pro prospect among underclassmen ... College Soccer News picked him as a preseason first team All-American and Soccer America voted him to its preseason All-America squad as well.
Belshaw Picks Up Preseason Awards
Junior goalkeeper James Belshaw was voted to the College Soccer News All-America first team ... He joined Wenger on the first team as Duke was the lone ACC squad to have two first team selections ... Belshaw also was picked for the Soccer America All-America squad.
Belshaw & Wenger Hermann Trophy Watch List
The duo of juniors James Belshaw and Andrew Wenger were named to the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List ... Duke is one of five programs to land multiple players on the list and the only ACC program to do so.
Palodichuk Earns Preseason Praise
Freshman midfielder Nick Palodichuk was picked as one of eight Freshmen of Influence by Soccer America ... The 2010 Parade Magazine National Player of the Year, Palodichuk was rated as the nation's No. 2 recruit by TopDrawerSoccer.com.
Ibeagha Garnered Experience on U-20 Squad
Sophomore defender Sebastien Ibeagha gained some valuable international experience throughout the spring with the U-20 U.S. National Team ... Ibeagha appeared for the United States in November in a pair of contests in the Torneo de las Americas, playing the full 90 minutes against both Colombia and Mexico ... He wore the captain's armband in a 2-0 win over Canada and most recently trained with the squad in France in May.
Four Blue Devils Play in PDL
Jonathan Aguirre, Sebastien Ibeagha, Christopher Tweed-Kent and Andrew Wenger all played in the USL Premier Development League this summer ... Aguirre was on the Central Jersey Spartans, playing in 14 games and scoring one goal ... He ranked fourth on the team in minutes played ... The remaining three suited up for the Carolina Dynamo ... Ibeagha played in nine games, registering one assist ... Wenger saw action in eight games and netted two goals ... Tweed-Kent was able to play in just six games, finishing with one goal and three assists.
TopDrawerSoccer.com Top Freshmen
TopDrawerSoccer.com has rated five freshmen as either four or five star recruits ... Sean Davis, Nick Palodichuk and Riley Wolfe all were labeled as five star players, while Andrew Morales and Nat Eggleston both earned four star ratings ... Palodichuk and Davis ware picked as the Nos. 2 and 3 overall recruits by the publication, while Wolfe was 17th and Eggleston was 35th.
Recruiting Class Ranked Third
College Soccer News has ranked the Blue Devils group of incoming freshmen as the No. 3 best group arriving in 2011 ... Duke welcomes 10 newcomers to the team, including nine freshmen.
Wenger in Elite Company
Andrew Wenger joined elite company when he became the first player since Jay Heaps to earn All-ACC first team recognition in each of his first two seasons ... Wenger was the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2009 and garnered ACC Defensive Player of the Year recognition in 2010 ... He is the first Blue Devil to win the top defensive player honor.
Top Drawer Soccer National Top 100 List
Top Drawer Soccer ranked the top 100 upperclassmen and three Blue Devils are represented on the list ... Andrew Wenger is 12th, Sebastien Ibeagha is 18th and James Belshaw is 63rd.
Next Up
The Blue Devils hit the road again for their next contest, traveling to Furman for a match on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m.
