Five Blue Devils Named To ESPN The Magazine?s Academic All-District Teams

DURHAM, N.C. - Sophomore defender Josh Bienenfeld, senior midfielder Joe Germanese and senior midfielder Michael Videira were place on ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District first team, announced late Thursday. Senior midfielder Tomek Charowski and senior defender Tim Jepson made the second team. There are eight districts in the country, and Duke is in District Three, which includes the southeastern Atlantic states. Requirements for the honors are a 3.2 GPA and excellence on the soccer playing field. Bienenfeld, Germanese and Videira are now eligible for the national Academic All-American team.

Bienenfeld, a native of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., has played in all 16 games this season for the Blue Devils with 12 starts. He has helped to lead a defense that was without its senior captain for the first 10 games of the year. Bienenfeld has tallied two assists and taken 18 shots in playing 1,369 minutes, the second most on the team. He is undecided as to a major at this point of his academic career.

Germanese is an economics major with a certificate in markets and management. The St. Louis, Mo., product leads Duke with seven assists in 2007 and has contributed two goals on 19 shots. Germanese has started 15 games and logged 988 minutes.

Duke captain Videira is on the Hermann Trophy watch list for the third consecutive season. He has started 14 matches and played 1,116 minutes. Videira has helped the Blue Devils with two goals and three assists and run the offense from the center midfield position. The native of Milford, Mass., is earning a degree in sociology with a certificate in markets and management. In 2006, Videira earned Academic All-America third team honors.

Charowski, who came to Duke from Anderson, S.C., has seen action in 13 games with nine starts this season. He has scored one goal on 12 shots and added two assists in 674 minutes. Charowski is a sociology major with a markets and management certificate.

Despite missing the first 10 games due to a high hamstring injury, Jepson has come back to start six straight games and log 457 minutes in captaining Duke's defense for the second year in a row. He has recorded one assist and two shots. This is the second consecutive season that Jepson has been named to the Academic All-District second team. The Yorba Linda, Calif., native is one of 10 national finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. He majors in sociology with a certificate in markets and management.

Duke's five honorees were the most by any school in the ACC, which had nine players overall earn Academic All-District awards. Wake Forest was next behind Duke with three awards.

The Blue Devils are home on Sunday to take on Alabama A&M at 1 p.m., in the last match of a stretch that included six games in 17 days. It is also the final regular season home match of 2007. Admission to all regular season men's soccer games in Koskinen Stadium is free of charge and adidas hats will be given out to the first 500 fans in attendance on Sunday. On Saturday, Nov. 10, Duke will head to Method Road Soccer Stadium in Raleigh, N.C. for its final regular season game of the year against N.C. State at 2 p.m.

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