No. 5 Duke Prepares for Final Regular Season Game Against Clemson

Durham, N.C. - No. 5 Duke will play their final regular season game on Saturday when they honor four seniors on senior night at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils will host Clemson in an ACC game at Koskinen Stadium and will attempt to earn a higher seed for the ACC Tournament. Duke enters the game with a 10-3-2 record and 3-2-2 mark in the ACC. They are coming off a double overtime scoreless tie against North Carolina last Friday and have a three game unbeaten streak. The Tigers have not lost in their last six games with a 4-0-2 record, including three straight wins. They defeated Furman, 2-1, on Wednesday. Clemson enters this contest with a 9-4-3 overall record and a 1-4-2 contest in the conference.

Series History
The overall series between Duke and Clemson has been a close one. The Blue Devils hold a slight edge over Clemson with a 21-20-3 overall record. Duke won five straight from 1967-1971, but then lost eight straight from 1972-1979. Head Coach John Rennie ended the losing streak in his second year at the helm and has a 15-12-3 overall record against the Tigers, including six straight wins from 1994-98.

Last Year's Meeting
(9/18/04) - Duke won their seventh straight game to start the season with a 1-0 shutout victory at home against Clemson. The Blue Devils scored early with Spencer Wadsworth knocking in his third goal of the year in the sixth minute. Danny Miller and Danny Kramer set Wadsworth up for the goal. Justin Trowbridge made one save to earn the shutout in goal for the Blue Devils. Phil Marfuggi stopped four shots in the loss for the Tigers.

The Opponent
Clemson has a 9-4-3 overall record this year. They won three straight contests to start the season, but faced a tough stretch in the middle where the went 1-3-1, losing three game to ranked teams. All four losses this season for the Tigers have come against ranked opponents. They lost 3-0 to Maryland, 1-0 to North Carolina, 2-0 to N.C. State and 1-0 in two overtimes to Virginia. Clemson is led by Dane Richards who has six goals and six assists along with three game-winning goals. Phil Marfuggi has four shutouts in goal with a 0.88 goals against average.

Last Time Out
Duke went on the road and came away with a scoreless tie in two overtimes at North Carolina last Friday. The Blue Devils did not allow a single shot on goal in 110 minutes while putting four shots on goal. Duke only allowed three total shots in each half and one in the two overtimes. They tallied eight total shots in the second half and finished with 13 in the contest. The shutout was the sixth for the team and the fifth for Justin Papadakis. The game was televised live nationally by Fox Soccer Channel and was played in front of the second largest crowd in North Carolina men's soccer history with 3,585 fans attending the game.

ACC Tournament
Following Duke's final regualar season game on Saturday, the Blue Devil's will start preparing for the ACC Tournament. This year the conference tournament will be played in Cary, N.C. at the SAS Soccer Complex. There will be a play-in game between the eighth and ninth seeds on Tuesday, Nov. 8th at 2 p.m. The four quarterfinal games will take place on Wednesday at noon, 2:30, 5:30 and 8 p.m. The two semifinal games will be played on Friday at 5:30 and 8 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. An all-tournament package can be purchased for $25 or single day tickets are available for $15. Students and senior citizens receive a discounted rate on their tickets and children two years or younger will get in free.

Duke vs. Ranked Opponents
After the scoreless tie against North Carolina last Friday, Duke is now 3-3-1 against ranked teams this season, including a 2-2-1 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. Duke will head to Cary, N.C. next week for the ACC Tournament where seven of the nine teams are currently ranked by Soccer America.

Scoring Offense
Duke is ranked tenth nationally in scoring offense with an average of 2.4 goals per game. They have scored at least two goals in 11 of their 15 games. Duke has not won a game when scoring less than two goals. The four times they have failed to score twice were in a 4-1 loss to St. John's, in their 3-1 loss to Maryland, in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Virginia and a 0-0 tie at North Carolina. They have scored three goals against Saint Louis, the College of Charleston, Wake Forest, Longwood and Boston College. They also tallied five in a win over Temple and a season-high six last Friday against N.C. State. The shutout loss to Virginia was the only time this season Duke failed to score a goal in a game.

National Player of the Week
Blake Camp earned Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week honors after scoring two goals last week against Stony Brook. It was the second time this year Camp has earned national honors. He was honored by College Soccer News on Sept. 25. Four other Duke players have also earned national weekly honors this season. They are Mike Grella, Chris Loftus, Zach Pope and Spencer Wadsworth. Danny Kramer was named ACC Player of the Week on Sept. 19.

ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District
Danny Kramer and Michael Videira were each named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III second team this week. Kramer has a 3.36 GPA and is majoring in sociology. Videira has a 3.35 GPA and is undecided on a major. This season Kramer has four goals, all coming against ACC opponents. He also has started all 15 games. Videira is tied for the team lead with eight assists and has scored three times. He has started in 14 of the 15 games this season.

Pair of Goals
Blake Camp tallied both of Duke's goals against Stony Brook on Oct. 26. It was the second time this season that Camp has scored twice in a game. It was also the second straight game the Blue Devils had a player find the back of the net twice. Danny Kramer scored two goals in Duke's 6-0 win against N.C. State last Friday. Duke has had a player score two goals in four different games this season. Chris Loftus scored a pair against Longwood and Camp had two against Temple.

Shutouts
The Blue Devils recorded their sixth shutout of the season when went two overtimes with out a goal allowed at North Carolina last Friday. The shutout was also the fifth of the season for sophomore goalkeeper Justin Papadakis who now has six in his career. Last season Duke tied a school record with 13 shutouts.

NCAA Leaders as of 10/31
Michael Videira and Spencer Wadsworth are both ranked among the top-20 in the country in assists per game. Wadsworth is ranked 15th with an average of 0.57 per contest and Videira is 19th, averaging 0.53 per contest. As a team Duke is ranked tenth in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 2.4 goals per game.

ACC Leaders as of 10/31
Duke is among the leaders in the ACC in several statistical categories. They are first with 16.87 shots per game, first with 8.73 points per game, second with 2.4 goals per contest and first with 3.93 assists per game. They also have several individuals among the leaders in the conference. Blake Camp is fourth with three shots per game, tied for eighth with 1.27 points per contest and tied for ninth with 0.47 goals per game. Michael Videira is sixth with 2.87 shots per outing and sixth with 0.53 assists per game. Chris Loftus is seventh with 1.4 points per game and sixth with 0.6 goals per game. Spencer Wadsworth is tenth with 1.14 points per outing and third with 0.57 assists per contest. Mike Grella is seventh with 0.5 assists per game.

National Rankings
Duke finished last week with a 1-0-1 record after beating Stony Brook, 2-1, and tying North Carolina, 0-0. They stayed at No. 5 in the soccertimes.com top-25, but slipped in the other polls. They dropped two slots to No. 8 in Soccer America and fell one spot to No. 8 in the College Soccer News Top-30. They also swapped positions with North Carolina after their tie dropping from fourth to eighth in the NSCAA/adidas top-25.

No. 5 Duke Prepares for Final Regular Season Game Against Clemson

Players Mentioned

Blake Camp

Mike Grella

Danny Kramer

Chris Loftus

Danny Miller

Justin Papadakis

Zack Pope

Justin Trowbridge

Michael Videira

Spencer Wadsworth

Duke information

No. 5 Duke Prepares for Final Regular Season Game Against Clemson

Players Mentioned

Blake Camp

Mike Grella

Danny Kramer

Chris Loftus

Danny Miller

Justin Papadakis

Zack Pope

Justin Trowbridge

Michael Videira

Spencer Wadsworth

Related Videos

Duke information