Eight freshmen from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas, Virginia, Washington, California, Arizona and Gambia all come together as the sun rises each morning outside Koskinen Stadium.
The Blue Devils were outshot 17-3, earned three yellow cards and attempted seven corner kicks Friday night against Boston College, but still found themselves in two overtimes.
In a showdown featuring the potent Boston College offense and the stingy Duke defense, the Blue Devils travel north in search of their second ACC win.
In its 5-0 win Tuesday against Stony Brook (2-8-1), Duke found out the easiest way to improve a struggling offense is to bring back a preseason All-American.
"We saw some of their games. They're playing real tight games against stiff opposition," head coach John Kerr said. "They proved against good teams that they can hold them down to low-scoring games."
Despite maintaining possession for much of a lightning-delayed game, Duke failed to bring its own thunder to Koskinen Stadium in a scoreless tie with Clemson Friday night.
In Duke's first conference loss to Maryland Friday night, senior forward Mike Grella's somewhat dubious red card stole the show.
Ian Kalis wandered into new teammate Kwasi Ayisi's Washington, D.C. hotel room in late August, as the Blue Devils were in town for a preseason game.
The No. 25 Blue Devils knew they would learn something about themselves by playing No. 4 Maryland in College Park, Md. before a crowd of more than 6,000 spectators.
When the Blue Devils step onto Terrapin turf for their matchup against No. 4 Maryland Friday at 8 p.m., they know they will not be in Durham anymore.
No. 25 Duke, ranked in the national polls for the first time all season, dictated the tempo of its match against Davidson from the onset Tuesday night.
With a 60-percent chance of rain Tuesday night, Davidson can only hope the precipitation will help cool down the red-hot Blue Devils.
In the first ACC game of head coach John Kerr's tenure, the young Blue Devils proved they belong in the conference of heavyweights.
The Blue Devils' season has been characterized by its ups and downs.
Playing against Duke in Koskinen Stadium is usually a difficult enough task for visiting teams. But what about when the Blue Devils' head coach knows your team better than your own coach?
The John Kerr era hadn't quite gotten off to the start Duke had hoped. A return to Koskinen Stadium was all it took to fix that. Facing a familiar foe certainly didn't hurt, either.
Duke head coach John Kerr has a rare advantage in preparing Duke for its next opponent: he built the team himself.
When it comes to Saturday's 7 p.m. game at Wallace Wade Stadium, both Northwestern and Duke are preaching from the same book.
