Change is an integral part of college athletics as students have only four years of eligibility with a school. The women's soccer team is in the midst of a major change, having graduated nine players from last year's squad.
Those nine players propelled the Blue Devils into the NCAA Tournament four straight years, reached an NCAA Championship game, were the first team to ever defeat North Carolina on its home field and put Duke women's soccer on the map. But all their accomplishments will count for nothing when the Blue Devils' season begins in Chapel Hill against the Tar Heels on Sept. 1.
"I'm excited about this season because it's like a new beginning," senior co-captain Mandy Lehr said. "We've always been known for the talented class [that graduated last year]. Now, we're our own team, and we're going to create what we can with what we have."
What Duke has is a talented core of returning players who will be joined by nine incoming freshmen. With five starters from last year's team gone, it is quite clear that a number of the first-year players will be counted on to make major contributions for the Blue Devils.
Duke head coach Bill Hempen acknowledges that the incoming freshmen were well aware of the opportunity to play right away when they signed with the Blue Devils. He fully expects the group to come into camp on Aug. 18 fit, physically and psychologically, and he expects that some of them will be in the starting lineup when Duke travels to Chapel Hill for its opening game.
"The turnover invigorates me a little bit," Hempen said. "I was so reliant on [the nine seniors who graduated] for so long. Now, it's a completely new team, and I have to rethink what I want to do with the program as far as style of play with new faces, and what roles those new faces will have to take for us. It's pretty exciting from that standpoint. It might end up being real frustrating, but I'm not afraid of that at all."
Part of the frustration may stem from the difficulty of the Blue Devils' schedule. Thirteen of the 20 games on their schedule are against teams who played in last year's NCAA Tournament. It very well may be the toughest schedule in the country.
"I don't ever want to be accused of ducking anybody," Hempen said. "My problem is if somebody asks me to play them, my immediate answer is yes, and then I try to figure out what I'm going to do from there. I've learned that now the answer is no, and we just have to play as many teams as we can.
"I've told our kids, and they understand my philosophy. They would rather go out and play their hardest and lose against the best team in the country, then walk through a game that they're going to win 8-0. [The schedule] is a challenge to them, and we may lose them all. But I'm confident that the kids are going to battle through every one of our games to make it a worthwhile athletic experience for them."
This year's schedule is especially tough because Duke will have to be ready after two short weeks of training for arguably its toughest game of the year. It will be a quick learning experience for the freshmen.
Originally, Hempen had scheduled North Carolina and N.C. State late in the season for mid-week games. When the NCAA decided to let teams start the season a week earlier, however, he quickly moved to reschedule both of those contests for the opening week.
"I didn't do it for any other reason than to give us a break later on in the season," Hempen said. "It enables us to avoid playing mid-week games late in the season when we'll already be playing two games on most weekends. It frees us up from having to play five games in only eight days."
The Blue Devils have not lowered their sights at all this season. In fact, they may be even more motivated this year after falling unexpectedly to N.C. State in the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament has been expanded from 24 to 32 teams this season, and Hempen and Lehr fully expect the Blue Devils to be in it when it starts in mid-November.
In the meantime, Duke is spending the rest of the summer doing what it can to prepare for the season. Lehr and Samantha Baggett are playing in the national club soccer tournament later this summer, and a number of other Blue Devils are playing in semipro local soccer leagues.
"I can't wait for the season to start because everyone on our team is so talented," Lehr said. "Everyone is going to get a chance to realize their potential. I don't know, there's just something different in the air."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.