If the Blue Devils have one belief heading into this season, it’s their potential.
The team may look different from last season—albeit with many familiar faces—but there is a firm belief within its ranks that once it gels, the ACC elite will have an extra bit of company. They don’t seem to notice that the team was voted to finish fifth in the conference this year in a vote of the league’s nine head coaches.
This season, North Carolina and Maryland highlight the characteristically-strong ACC, ranking among the top-5 in the nation.
“I think we’re a talented team that is pretty young and has a lot of room to develop and improve,” junior co-captain Andrew Wenger said. “There’s going to be some times during the year where there will be big chances and big games, and if we can pull out some of those opportunities, we can easily finish in the top two or three.”
Much of the pressure for finishing those chances will rest with Wenger, who is undergoing a positional switch this season. The reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year starred at center back for his first two collegiate seasons but will spend the majority of his time playing forward this year. Wenger said he has played every position on the field except goalkeeper throughout his soccer career, so moving up to forward will not be as disruptive a move as it may appear.
The junior already has shown a knack for finding the back of the goal, netting two scores in Duke’s regular season opener, a 3-2 loss against UNC-Greensboro. Still, the defense allowed three goals, showing that the backfield clearly missed its defensive stalwart and leader, whose move to the front was the coaches’ decision.
“We wrestled with him playing in the midfield initially last spring, and we noticed that his strength and desire to get forward into dangerous spots would be very interesting to try in the forward line,” head coach John Kerr said. “We thought with his pace and size and strength, he might be a great target player.”
His talents on the offensive end will be needed to replace those of Ryan Finley, who, after two seasons of leading the Blue Devils in scoring, transferred to Notre Dame during the offseason. The reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year was suspended indefinitely prior to the NCAA tournament last year by the team and hasn’t appeared with them since.
Duke will miss his prodigious offensive efficiency. Finley scored a remarkable 0.94 goals per game during his sophomore season, tops in the nation last year. Still, the team seemed to indicate that it is looking forward to the potential for improved team chemistry in the wake of his absence.
“We’ve got a great bunch of guys together, and the mentality around camp is fantastic—everybody is getting along so well, and there’s a lot of positive energy,” junior goalkeeper and co-captain James Belshaw said. “We’re excited to go forward.”
Belshaw and Wenger were both named to the Preseason All-America first teams by SoccerAmerica and College Soccer News.
Beyond the returning talent, however, Kerr brings with him one of his best recruiting classes, which has been ranked among the elite in the nation. The prize of the group is midfielder Nick Palodichuk, whom TopDrawerSoccer.com ranked as the No. 2 overall recruit in the country. Palodichuk, the 2010 Parade Magazine National Player of the Year and a member of the United States U-17 national team, was one of three freshmen who started for Duke in its opening regular season game.
The other two were Riley Wolfe, a 5-foot-4 midfielder rated as the No. 17 recruit nationally, and Andrew Morales, a two-time all-state selection in North Carolina. In addition, Nat Eggleston received time off the bench and could become a crucial part of the Blue Devils’ new defense without Wenger.
“They’re all good, they’re all really good,” Kerr said. “[Associate head] coach [Michael] Brady and [associate head] coach [Bryan] Amos and I thought a couple years ago going forward, these are the type of kids we know will take us to the next level.”
The staff expects to receive a significant amount of production from those freshmen, and even more from this recruiting class down the road when it becomes entirely healthy—three of them are presently injured. Chase Keesling is recovering from ACL surgery and is potentially out for the season while Matt Slotnick and Sean Davis each had surgeries on their fifth metatarsal bones in the foot and remain sidelined for the indefinite future.
And even though this team thinks it has the potential to win now, the team is treating the injuries cautiously to maximize success down the road, especially in regards to Keesling, who underwent a particularly sensitive procedure.
“These are tricky injuries,” Kerr said. “We’re on the conservative side to make sure the longevity of the players’ best interests at heart are taken care of.”
There’s nothing conservative, though, about the team’s expectations this season, and if the defense can regroup without last season’s star, they just might surprise the rest of the conference.
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