No. 4 Duke Opens NCAA Tournament at Home Against Creighton Tuesday

Durham, N.C. - No. 4 Duke, the sixth seed in the NCAA Tournament, will host No. 11 Creighton in the second round after receiving a bye in the first round. The game will take place at 7 p.m. in Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Jays advanced with a 3-0 victory at home against Lafayette on Friday night and won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship. The Blue Devils defeated three teams ranked in the top 10 in the ACC Tournament to claim their second ACC Tournament Championship.

NCAA Tournament
The 2005 NCAA Tournament began on Friday, Nov. 18. The first round consists of 16 games with the 16 seeded teams all receiving a bye. The second round games will be played at the home sites of the seeded squads. The College Cup will take place Dec. 9 and 11 at the SAS Soccer Complex in Cary, N.C. Tickets for the second round games are $7 for adults, $5 for students and free for ages two and under.

Series History
The two schools have faced each other on two previous occasions with both teams winning one game. The last meeting was in 1995 when Duke opened up their season at the Creighton Tournament in Omaha, Neb. and came away with a 3-1 victory. That season the Blue Devils advanced to the National Championship game for the third time in school history but lost to Wisconsin, 2-0. The other meeting came in 1994 when Creighton defeated Duke on their home field, 3-1, in the MetLife-adidas Soccer Classic.

The Opponent
The Bluejays defeated Lafayette 3-0 in the opening round to advance. Creighton enters the NCAA Tournament coming off a 2-0 win against No. 17 Bradley for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship. The Blue Jays have not allowed a goal since Oct. 26 when they lost 3-2 at Drake. Since then they have outscored their opponents 12-0. They have 10 shutouts on the season and have only allowed 16 goals in 20 games while scoring 44 times. They are 13-4-3 overall but only have a 3-3-1 record in road contests. Matt Wieland is the only member remaining from the Creighton team that made it to the final four in 2002. Byron Dacy leads the Blue Jays with eight goals and eight assists while Michael Kraus has seven goals and five assists along with four game-winners. Matt Allen has played all but 20 minutes in goal and has a 0.78 goals against average and .802 save percentage with nine shutouts.

Last Meeting
The Blue Devils ousted Creighton 3-1 on their home field in the season opener. Josh Henderson scored a goal and added an assist to lead Duke. The Blue Devils capitalized on their chances with three goals on 12 shots while the Blue Jays had 19 shots but only scored one time. Craig Jeidy tallied the game-winning goal. The two squads each made six saves in the contest. Brian Kelly scored the first goal of the season for Duke and went on to lead the team with 16 goals and 11 assists for 43 points.

History in the NCAA Tournament
Duke holds an all-time record of 24-17-1 in the NCAA Tournament, including a 4-4 record in five College Cups. They won the National Championship in 1986 and made it to the final game in 1982 and 1995. The record includes a 13-5-1 mark at home.

Rennie in the NCAA Tournament
In the 27 years John Rennie as been at the helm of the Duke men's soccer team, he has guided them to the NCAA Tournament 18 times and has led them to five College Cups and a National Championship in 1986. He has won his first game of the tournament ten times and has played for the National Championship three times. In just his second year in charge of the Blue Devils he took them to the NCAA Tournament and in his fourth season he led them all the way to one of the most memorable National Championship games in history as Indiana edged Duke, 2-1, in eight overtimes.

Hermann Trophy Semifinalist
Michael Videira was listed as one of 15 semifinalists for the Hermann Trophy, the award given annually to the National Player of the Year. Videira, a sophomore midfielder from Milford, Mass., has three goals and eight assists this season. He had a streak of seven straight games with a point and five straight games with an assist earlier this season. Last season he was named the Soccer America and ACC Freshman of the Year. He was a preseason All-America choice by College Soccer News and Soccer America as well as being named to the preseason Hermann watch list.

ACC Champions
The Blue Devils won their second ACC Tournament Championship with a 5-4 decision on penalty kicks against No. 4 North Carolina. With the Tar Heels ahead 4-3 in the final round of kicks, Justin Papadakis made a save and Blake Camp evened the shootout at 4-4 to force a sixth round of kicks. Papadakis again made a crucial save and freshman Mike Grella converted his opportunity to give Duke the victory. Also making their kicks were Chris Loftus, Tomek Charowski and Zach Pope. It was the second time this season that Duke and North Carolina played to a scoreless tie in two overtimes.

National Player of the Week
Blake Camp was awarded by Soccer America as the National Player of the Week after earning the ACC Tournament MVP award. Camp scored two goals to lead Duke to a victory over No. 1 Maryland in the ACC semifinals. It was also the third time this season that Camp was named to the National Team of the Week. Four other Blue Devils have also received national honors including Mike Grella, Chris Loftus, Zach Pope and Spencer Wadsworth.

Camp in the ACC Tournament
Senior midfielder Blake Camp has saved some of his best performances for the ACC Tournament and has been named to the All-Tournament team in each of the past three seasons and was named MVP in this year's tournament. He scored Duke's only goal in each of their first round losses to Wake Forest and Virginia in 2003 and 2004. In the semifinals against Maryland, Camp tallied two goals in the first half and nearly missed the hat trick when his header was saved by Terps keeper Chris Seitz. In his career, Camp now has four goals in six ACC Tournament games. He scored on his penalty kick against North Carolina to force a sixth round in the shootout.

Papadakis Saves Day
Justin Papadakis made the two biggest saves of the season in the ACC Championship game. With the Blue Devils trailing 4-3 heading in to the last round of penalty kicks he made two straight stops to give Duke a chance to win the championship. He also made a big save in overtime to keep North Carolina off the board. He now has seven shutouts on the season and played in over 80 minutes of Duke's eighth shutout before giving way to Scott Siegel.

National Rankings
Duke moved back in to the top 10 after moving throught three top 10 opponents on the way to winning the ACC Championship. The Blue Devils are now ranked fourth by Soccer America, fifth by College Soccer News, sixth by the NSCAA and seventh by Soccertimes.com.

Duke vs. Ranked Opponents
The win in penalty kicks against North Carolina counts as a tie in the two squads overall records. Heading in to the NCAA Tournament Duke is 5-3-2 against ranked teams this season, including a 4-2-2 record against ranked ACC squads. They went on the road and defeated No. 25 Saint Louis University, 3-1, in their second game of the year. They suffered a 4-1 loss at home against No. 7 St. John's on Sept. 11 but came back the next week to defeat No. 13 Wake Forest, 3-2 in overtime. They went on to lose two straight against ranked teams with a setback on national television to Maryland, 3-1, and a 1-0 loss at Virginia. The Blue Devils bounced back from the Virginia loss with the 6-0 win against N.C. State and a scoreless tie at North Carolina. Duke defeated No. 10 Virginia Tech in the first round of the ACC Tournament and No. 1 Maryland in the semifinals.

Dominance in First Half
The Blue Devils have been the first team to put a goal on the board in 13 of their 19 games this season. So far this year, the Blue Devils have outscored their opponents 23-2 in the first half. The only two goals they have allowed in the first half came against Wake Forest and Clemson. Duke also holds a 133-60 advantage in total shots in the opening stanza. However, in the second half they have been outscored 20-18 despite holding an advantage in total shots, 149-113.

Mr. November
Sophomore forward Spencer Wadsworth has recorded five goals and five assists in 11 November games in his career. Wadsworth helped lead the Blue Devils to the final four last season with three goals and four assists in the final seven games, including a goal and three assists in the NCAA Tournament. So far this season, he has scored two goals and assisted on another in four games this month and was named to the ACC All-Tournament team.

No. 4 Duke Opens NCAA Tournament at Home Against Creighton Tuesday

Players Mentioned

Blake Camp

Tomek Charowski

Mike Grella

Chris Loftus

Justin Papadakis

Zack Pope

Scott Siegel

Michael Videira

Spencer Wadsworth

Duke information

No. 4 Duke Opens NCAA Tournament at Home Against Creighton Tuesday

Players Mentioned

Blake Camp

Tomek Charowski

Mike Grella

Chris Loftus

Justin Papadakis

Zack Pope

Scott Siegel

Michael Videira

Spencer Wadsworth

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Duke information