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No. 4 Duke Pitted Against No. 6 Maryland In ACC Tournament Rematch
11/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
BOYDS, Md. - Fourth-ranked Duke (14-3-1) will go into battle against sixth-ranked Maryland (15-3-1) on Friday night at 8 p.m. in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament. It is a rematch of last year's semifinal, when the Blue Devils upset the Terrapins by a score of 4-2. Duke went on to win the ACC Tournament, and Maryland finished the season by winning the NCAA National Championship.
Series History: Maryland leads the all-time series 42-19-3. It is Duke's worst record against any ACC opponent, but the Blue Devils are 6-4 versus the Terrapins in their last ten meetings. Duke did not defeat Maryland from their first meeting in 1940 until 1972, and only had two wins against them when John Rennie took over the coaching position in 1979. The Blue Devils have compiled a 17-14-2 mark against the Terrapins in the Rennie era, and are 3-1 against them in the ACC Tournament. Most recently, Duke dropped a 1-0 contest at Maryland on Sept. 29 of this year.
The Opponent: Maryland holds a record of 15-3-1 on the year and is currently on a five game win streak, after dropping two in a row to Virginia and Boston College in mid-October. The Terrapins were undefeated in non-conference play this season, with their third loss coming at the hands of Clemson on Sept. 8, and the tie to North Carolina on Oct. 6. Maryland is led by Coach Sasho Cirovski, who is in his 14th year with a 201-89-15 record. Sophomore goalkeeper Chris Seitz, who was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, will lead the way for the Terrapins with his .774 save percentage and 41 saves. Maryland is led by a quintet of forwards and midfielders who have scored 32 of their 37 goals this season. The leaders for the Terps are sophomore midfielder/forward Graham Zusi with 10 goals and seven assists, and junior midfielder Stephen King with six goals and seven assists. Also contributing to Maryland's attack is ACC Freshman of the Year and midfielder/forward Jeremy Hall (six goals and three assists), junior midfielder Maurica Edu (five goals and four assists), and freshman forward Jason Herrick (five goals and two assists).
Last Time Out: Duke beat N.C. State 2-1 on Wednesday afternoon in a closely contested match. Senior midfielder/captain Chris Loftus and junior midfielder Michael Videira tallied goals for the Blue Devils. Maryland knocked off Boston College 1-0 in double overtime on a goal by Zusi, and Seitz recorded his ninth shutout this year. Both matches were in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament.
Rankings: The Blue Devils are ranked fourth in NCAA Division I, and have been ranked as high as second this season. Maryland is currently ranked sixth, and started off the first three weeks of the season as number one. The ACC has six teams in the top ten, and at one point this season had six teams in the top seven. Those teams are Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and Wake Forest. Virginia Tech has also been ranked this year.
Around the ACC: Duke won the regular season ACC title and claimed the top seed in the tournament with a 5-2-1 conference record. The Blue Devils were tied with Wake Forest atop the ACC, but Duke defeated Wake Forest during the regular season 4-3, which clinched the tiebreaker. Maryland finished fourth in the conference with a 4-3-1 mark. The other semifinal tournament game matches the Wake Forest Demon Deacons against the Virginia Cavaliers, with kickoff set for 5:30 p.m. on Friday evening.
All-ACC Teams Announced: Five Blue Devils were named to the three All-ACC teams, and four to the top two teams, which tied Duke with Virginia for most players honored this year on the first and second teams. Announced Monday to the first team were Videira and sophomore forward Mike Grella. Senior defender/captain Kyle Helton and junior forward Spencer Wadsworth were selected to the second team, while freshman midfielder Joshua Bienenfeld was named to the All-ACC Freshmen Team. It was the highest number of Blue Devils selected to All-ACC teams since 2000, and was the third year in a row that Videira has been named All-ACC.
Devil Defense: Duke's defense has allowed only nine goals in its last 13 matches, recording four shutouts in that time and not allowing more than one goal in any of those games. The Blue Devils have only allowed 16 goals in 18 games the entire season, and only twice has more than one goal been scored against them. Junior goalkeeper Justin Papadakis has been a major reason behind this success, with a .763 save percentage, 45 saves, and four shutouts. Junior captain Tim Jepson has anchored the defense with his leadership, strong work ethic, and team best 1519 minutes played. Helton has logged 1331 minutes on a defensive unit that has also added to Duke's scoring totals with three goals and six assists. Sophomores Darrius Barnes and Graham Dugoni have also seen increased playing time, combining for over 2250 minutes, and have contributed greatly as the season has progressed.
Middle of the Field: One of the strongest and deepest assets for the Blue Devils is their midfield. They are led by Hermann Trophy candidate Videira, with six goals and six assists. Loftus has played a combination of forward and midfield while recording four goals and three assists in his last campaign. Others contributing in the middle include juniors Tomek Charowski (two goals and three assists), Joe Germanese (three goals and five assists) and Zach Pope (1 goal and nine assists). Sophomore Pavelid Castaneda has been the workhorse for the Blue Devil midfield, recording 1391 minutes at the most physically taxing position on the field.
Up Front and Personal: While Germanese and Loftus have spent time playing forward this season, the Blue Devils only play two true strikers. This has not resulted in a lack of scoring, as Duke has tallied 41 goals on the season, including 21 in their last eight games. Their very balanced attack has resulted in 14 different players scoring this year. Grella is Duke's number one goal scorer, notching 10 goals and adding four assists. Wadsworth is the other true forward, and has accumulated six goals and an ACC best 12 assists.
Rennie Sets Records: Rennie is now the winningest coach in ACC history. He holds the records for most wins at an ACC school with 395, and for most wins in the conference with 91. Rennie overtook former Clemson coach I.M. Ibrahim in both categories. For Division I Men's Soccer coaches, Rennie is in fifth place with 439 overall wins.
A Look Ahead: The ACC Men's Soccer Tournament continues all week in Boyds, Md. If Duke should win on
Friday, they would play the winner of the Wake Forest-Virginia match in the championship game on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net. The NCAA Tournament selection show will be aired on ESPN News on Monday, Nov. 6, between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.
2006 ACC Men's Soccer Championship
First Round - Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Match 1: No. 9 N.C. State 4 - No. 8 Virginia Tech 3
Quarterfinal Round - Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Match 2: No. 2 Wake Forest 0 - No. 7 North Carolina 0 (Wake Forest won on penalty kicks 5-4)
Match 3: No. 1 Duke 2 - No. 9 N.C. State 1
Match 4: No. 3 Virginia 2 - No. 6 Clemson 0
Match 5: No. 4 Maryland 1 - No. 5 Boston College 0 (2 OT)
Semifinal Round - Friday, November 3, 2006
Match 6: No. 2 Wake Forest vs. No. 3 Virginia- 5:30 p.m.
Match 7: No. 1 Duke vs. No. 4 Maryland - 8:00 p.m.
Championship Final - Sunday, November 5, 2006
Match 8: Championship Match- 1:10 pm (televised by Fox Sports Net)
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