Roth: Building Momentum

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke aficionados recognize the statue of The Sower on East Campus as one of the university's enduring landmarks. James B. Duke originally discovered the bronze figure while touring Europe, purchased it for his New Jersey estate and later donated it to Trinity College in 1914, a full decade before his more significant contribution led the institution to change its name to Duke University.

The Sower has symbolized many things to many Blue Devils over its long history, beginning with former Trinity president John Kilgo's belief that the peasant figure's strong appearance in the face of his daily labor would serve as a model for students as they tackled four years of study before entering the real world.

About a quarter of a century ago, one of the university's fund-raising societies adopted The Sower as its symbol and began presenting 12-inch replicas to individuals who established permanent, fully-funded scholarship endowments, in recognition of their sowing the seeds for future generations of students.

At a recent ceremony to honor another campus landmark, Duke athletics director Joe Alleva presented a replica of The Sower to outgoing men's soccer coach John Rennie for the seeds of knowledge he sowed as an educator of Duke students for 29 years, as well as the soccer seeds he sowed to create a longstanding nationally prominent program for the university.

Rennie announced in August that this would be his last season, and many close followers of his team figured it would be one of the best in his sterling career, given the fact that the roster consisted of a dozen seniors who helped lead the Blue Devils to a final four and back-to-back ACC titles during their first three years ? not to mention the arrival of one of the top freshman classes in the country.

But with less than a month to go in the regular season, Rennie was beginning to wonder when his final campaign would really get started. After winning 4-2 at Clemson, his team entered October with a 7-2 record and a No. 4 national ranking. Impressive credentials, to be sure, but a grueling stretch of five tell-tale ACC games loomed. Four of the five were against teams ranked in the national top 10 ? such is life in the ACC ? and four of the five were at home. When the Devils lost the first three and tied the fourth, Rennie talked about how Duke had been "playing patchwork" all season.

Top defender Tim Jepson missed the first 10 games with a hamstring pull. Fellow seniors Zach Pope and Spencer Wadsworth were trying to get back to full strength after offseason surgeries. Top scorer Mike Grella was not available for a critical game with Virginia Tech last week after receiving a red card in Duke's previous contest.

Duke stemmed a three-game losing streak to No. 6 Boston College, unranked UNC and No. 1 Wake Forest by gaining a tie against No. 4 Virginia Tech in a match the Devils should have won. They led most of the night 1-0 on a goal by grad student Joshua Medcalf, but Tech came up with a soft, baffling, garbage goal with 18 minutes left and neither team could score again through two overtimes. It was not exactly what Duke needed, but Rennie told his team it was at least a step in the right direction.

"It could have been a great result, but it's a good enough result tonight," Rennie said. "Without Tim Jepson again, without Mike Grella, it's a good enough result. We'll take it.

"The fine line between winning and losing is incredible in this league. Giving up a goal like that in a game like this, that's not a very fine line. That's just something you should never do. But the difference in this league, if you look at the league standings, there are only two teams that are above the rest of the league. That's an important result, a good result for now."

"Like Coach said to us, if we lose tonight, we're scratching and clawing even worse trying to get back in position in the standings," Pope said. "Every team in this league is good and every single game can go either way. It's just a fine line and it all comes down to the fine details. Just small mental mistakes and all it takes is one minute or a second in a game and the game can go your way or it can go the other way."

The tie with Virginia Tech left Duke with a mark of 7-5-1 overall and 2-3-1 in the ACC entering a road game at archrival and 10th-ranked Virginia on Friday night. The Blue Devils and Cavaliers have engaged in many a classic battle during Rennie's career. If the tie with Tech was a step in the right direction, the outcome in Charlottesville very well could be remembered as the catalyst for a strong stretch run. After playing 88 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Blue Devils came up with a late goal to tie Virginia 1-1 and then won it in double-overtime to even their ACC record at 3-3-1 with only one conference match remaining before the ACC Tournament.

Medcalf scored the tying goal on a header with 1:52 remaining. Then with only 1:58 left in the second overtime, Grella took a cross from Pope and chipped it over the Virginia goalie to give the Devils their first come-from-behind win of the season. It was Pope's fourth assist of the year (he had 20 in his career entering the season) and Grella's fifth game-winner of the year.

Playing its third match in six days, Duke bested Cleveland State 3-0 on Sunday night. Medcalf scored for the third straight game, Pope got another assist and Wadsworth notched his first goal of the year, showing how important it is to have those guys healthy. "It was absolutely critical that we get some results here," said Rennie. "The results the last three games have been terrific."

They could constitute the start of some momentum to carry the Blue Devils through two more nonleague games and a regular season finale with N.C. State. Then it's the start of the postseason with something else Rennie helped sow ? the ACC Tournament. And it's postseason for which Rennie's last team will be most remembered.

"It's been one of those kinds of seasons, a season of ups and downs," Pope noted before the Devils headed to Virginia. "It's the kind of season where you really find out what kind of team you have. You can either stay down or you can get up and fight. The way we played defensively (against Virginia Tech) for most of the night was a change in how we've been playing, so it's definitely a step in the right direction. It looks like things are coming around for us."

Worth Noting...
Duke celebrated its senior night a little early, on Oct. 19 with three more home games still to come, but used the occasion to also honor its oldest senior, Rennie, by inviting alums back for the event. Alleva presented The Sower to Rennie before that game and several all-stars such as Tom Kain, Ken Lolla, Joe Ulrich and Pat Johnston were among the former players who attended a postgame reception. The only downer on the night was that top-ranked Wake Forest erupted for three first half goals and won the game 3-0...

Duke's final home game on Nov. 4 against Alabama A&M couldn't come against a more interesting opponent for Rennie. Three of his first four NCAA Tournament appearances ended with defeats to Alabama A&M, in 1980, 1981 and 1983. His 1982 team, which played for the national title, would have faced A&M in the second round had Clemson not beaten the Bulldogs in an NCAA opener.