Following last season's appearance in the College Cup and the addition of a top recruiting class, the men's soccer team had high hopes of dominating the ACC this season.
Conference parity, however, has left the Blue Devils with a middle-of-the-road fifth seed in the ACC Soccer Championships. With the NCAA tournament looming, Duke begins its conference title run at noon Wednesday when the Blue Devils play Virginia Tech at the SAS Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C.
"If the NCAA tournament bids came out today, eight out of the nine ACC teams would get bids," head coach John Rennie said. "I don't think there's been a situation like this in the history of the ACC. This is the strongest the league has ever been."
The conference tournament has not been kind to Duke as of late. When the No. 22 Blue Devils (10-4-2, 3-3-2 in the ACC) take the field against the No. 13 Hokies (10-4-4, 3-2-3), they will be trying to reverse recent history.
Since winning the school's only ACC Championship in 1999, Duke is 1-4 in the tournament, losing their past four opening round games.
The Blue Devils forfeited their opportunity for an easier first round matchup when they lost to Clemson, 3-1, in the last regular season game Nov. 5. Had Duke won, it would have been the third seed in the tournament.
Nevertheless, the team is excited for its chance to make up for a disappointing ACC regular-season finish.
"It feels great because its kind of like a clean slate," senior midfielder Blake Camp said. "We're working on playing the best soccer that we can and I think if we do that, we'll be alright."
In their first meeting of the season Sept. 20, the Blue Devils and Hokies battled to a 2-2 double-overtime tie. Goals by Camp and junior Chris Loftus were not enough to defeat Virginia Tech, which capitalized on an own goal by Duke.
"They're pretty much the same team they were [in the first meeting]," senior Danny Kramer said. "They added two new fast players who are good goal scorers, but we've faced a lot of guys like that in the ACC so we're prepared for it."
The Hokies have prospered in their recent games, going 9-2-1 since the Duke game. Midfielder Joshua Boateng and ACC Freshman of the Year forward Patrick Nyarko did not start the year on the active roster, but were cleared to play a few games into the season after coming to Virginia Tech from Ghana.
Nyarko leads Virginia Tech with 22 points in 13 games, while Boateng has registered 13 points in 12 games.
"We're aware of a couple players who didn't play against us the first time," Camp said. "We've been working on adjusting to their speed a little, but we're mainly focused on our game."
The Blue Devils have been unable to keep momentum for most of the season. Following the Clemson loss, Duke dropped to its lowest NSCAA ranking of the year. The Blue Devils are ranked behind six other ACC teams, including No. 1 Maryland.
If Duke defeats the Hokies, the Blue Devils will face the winner of top-seeded Maryland against eighth-seeded Wake Forest in the semifinals Friday. The Demon Deacons defeated Boston College, 4-0, in Tuesday's play-in game. The title game will be played Nov. 13.
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