Four members of Duke men's soccer have received All-ACC honors, including ACC Offensive Player, Midfielder and Freshman of the Year for sophomores Thorleifur Ulfarsson, Peter Stroud and freshman Shakur Mohammed, respectively. Freshman Ruben Mesalles was also named to the All-ACC Freshman team.
Becoming ACC Coastal co-champions after a 2020-21 season that saw them finish with the second worst overall win percentage in the conference has been quite the journey for the Blue Devils, and Senior Night gave them the opportunity to reflect on that. While there are only three seniors and one graduate student on this year’s roster, a short but sweet pregame ceremony set the tone for a night that would be decided by dedication and leaving it all on the field.
Coming into this campaign, the expectations were simple—just be better than last year. While they were better than their 4-10-3 record would imply, the Blue Devils were an almost-there team, one that couldn’t quite finish.
“We do have a tough ending to the week, heading out to South Bend,... and we're going to continue to soldier on and learn from the mistakes that we did make tonight, and also continue to grow and develop some of our things that we're doing quite well,” head coach John Kerr said. “We will be the underdog, which is nice because we were on top of the table and everyone wants to shoot you down...so it's gonna be a fun opportunity for us and we're looking forward to it.”
After suffering its first loss of the season last week at Pittsburgh, Duke entered Friday night’s matchup standing at No. 9 on the poll.
Kerr said, “These guys want to play for each other. They want to play for the school, and they want to play for the program, and most of all they want to play for each other. Everyone's working hard every day to get better and we have a lot of fun while we're doing it, so… this is a little bit of a hiccup but a worthwhile growth opportunity.”
Just under 16 minutes into the game, the Blue Devils were staring at their first deficit of the season, going down by one on an opportune goal off Elon’s first shot of the game, and how they responded could set the tone for the rest of the season.
After freshman forward Shakur Mohammed scored first off a counter attack and an assist from sophomore Peter Stroud in the 22nd minute, the Blue Devils held the lead for the rest of the game after a stellar defensive performance, eventually coming away with a 3-1 victory.
“I think the team has just grown over time,” Thorleifur Ulfarsson said. “We're getting better and better at the best time of the year.”
Defeating Syracuse 1-0 at SU Soccer Stadium, the sixth-ranked Blue Devils kept their perfect conference record intact while proving to themselves their own resiliency and versatility.
Even if you couldn’t see the scoreboard, the frustrated jeers from the crowded Tar Heel student section would have clued you in to Duke men’s soccer’s all but inevitable win as the minutes on the clock ticked away.
For Duke, a victory would mark consecutive triumphs over established ACC heavyweights, while, for North Carolina, a win would be the perfect way to bounce back from the Pittsburgh loss and re-establish their status among the conference’s elite.
Koskinen Stadium saw an end-to-end, thrilling match, with Thorleifur Ulfarsson’s first-half penalty ultimately deciding the difference in the hard-fought affair.
Goalkeeper Eliot Hamill made a career-high eight saves on 15 shots faced, the second-most faced in his career, and many of them likely left the Red Hawks scratching their heads and wondering How did he save that?
We are three games into the Duke men’s soccer season, and the team has yet to give up a goal.
Dedicated fans gathered at Koskinen Stadium Sunday under the blazing heat of the sun to watch the Blue Devils once again dominate on the field.
After nearly a year of waiting, victory finally returned to Koskinen Stadium for the men’s soccer team.
Thorleifur "Thor" Ulfarsson had an usual route to the Duke men's soccer team, but he made the most of his time last season and looks to carry that momentum into this year.
The Blue Devils’ exhibition games earlier this month were encouraging in that respect, as they scored eight goals across four games and at least one in each.
With Duke and North Carolina facing off on the Blue Devils’ Senior Night in the last regular season game of the season for both teams, it’s natural that tensions were running high.
