This Sunday, the men's soccer team will find itself in an eerily familiar situation when it travels to Charlottesville to take on Virginia.
Like last year, the two teams have one ACC loss and the winner of the game will be the ACC regular-season champion and receive a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament.
And like last year, Duke comes in with a six-game winning streak, and Virginia comes in with only two losses all season. Last year the Blue Devils were ranked No. 3, this year No. 2.
Duke hopes that's where the similarities end, though, as it lost last year's game 2-0. The Blue Devils also don't want a repeat of what happened the last time they went into Klockner Stadium, a 6-1 loss to the Cavaliers two years ago. Duke never recovered from that loss, and a 3-2 loss to Virginia in the ACC Tournament knocked the Blue Devils out of contention for an NCAA Tournament berth.
Not all recent history has been bad for Duke, though. The Blue Devils beat the top-ranked Cavaliers, 3-2, in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 1995. Many Duke players feel that game caused the end of the Virginia dynasty in men's soccer. Also, in the regular season that year a freshman named Jay Heaps scored twice in the final 1:35 of double overtime to secure a 3-3 tie, the last goal coming on a header with five seconds left in the game.
"[Historically], we've done better against them than any other team in the country," said senior defender Eric Otto. "We're not their favorite team in the world to play."
The Blue Devils come into the game 14-1 overall, with 10 shutouts, and 4-1 in the ACC. The only time they have given up more than one goal in a game this season was in their 3-2 loss to Maryland.
"It's the kind of game that you come to Duke to play," coach John Rennie said. "[You're playing for] a league championship, bragging rights and if you're a player or a coach, you want to play this kind of game."
Virginia comes in with a 9-2-2 record on the season (3-1-1 in the ACC), including a 4-1 win over Maryland. But in their three most recent games, the Cavs have a win against Adelphi sandwiched between losses to Clemson and American. They are led by forward Chris Albright, who is ranked sixth nationally with 13 goals in 13 games, and goalie Brock Yetso, who has a 0.77 goals-against average and four shutouts this year.
On the injury front, Rennie says that the playing status of goal-scorer Ali Curtis is uncertain, and forward/midfielder Matt Mayock is doubtful. Starter Robert Russell, who missed Wednesday night's 1-0 win against Campbell, will return for this game.
In addition, four of the 15 Hermann Trophy candidates for top collegiate soccer player in the nation will be on the field Sunday-defender Evan Whitfield and Heaps for Duke, and defender Matt Chulis and midfielder Jason Moore for Virginia. Including the two goals against Virginia in 1995, Heaps has scored 42 goals at Duke, placing him in a fourth-place tie on Duke's career scoring list.
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