Men?s Soccer Holds End of Season Banquet

DURHAM, N.C.—The Duke men's soccer team held its annual end-of-the-year banquet at Parizade Sunday night to honor the seniors and hand out the team awards as voted by the players. Senior captain Sean Davis earned the top honor as the Blue Devils Most Valuable Player.

Sophomore Brody Huitema was picked as the team's Offensive MVP, while junior Zach Mathers garnered the Defensive MVP accolade. Freshman Markus Fjørtoft was tabbed the Rookie of the Year and Wilson Fisher took home the John Rennie Coach's Award as picked by the coaching staff.

Davis, the 2014 ACC Midfielder of the Year and All-ACC first team pick, was the engine to Duke's offense this year and throughout his career. The Holmdel, N.J., native finished his season leading All ACC players and ranking third nationally with a career-high 10 assists.

Recently tabbed the nation's No. 5 player by Top Drawer Soccer, Davis completed his senior campaign with 12 points to rank second on the team in scoring. He tallied a career-high three assists in Duke's 8-2 win over Stetson and provided assists in seven games overall for the Blue Devils. For his career, Davis has started 62 of 64 games and scored seven goals and 17 assists for 31 points.

Davis is also Duke's Most Valuable Player of the field. A sociology major, he will graduate in December with his Bachelor of Arts degree and will pursue a career in professional soccer. He has garnered All-ACC Academic Team in each of his seasons and is a three-time member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll. He recently became the fourth Blue Devil men's soccer player and 34th Duke athlete overall to earn Academic All-America first team honors.

Duke's top scorer for the second consecutive season, Huitema captured his second All-ACC third team award in 2014. The Vancouver native led all Blue Devils with five goals and five assists for 15 points. Huitema came on strong down the stretch for Duke with four goals and an assist in the final five games of the regular season. In his brief two-year career, Huitema has played in 37 games and scored 11 goals and nine assists for 31 points.

Mathers, a stalwart center back for Duke for much of the season, earns his second consecutive third team accolade after capturing the honor his sophomore season. Also a mainstay in the Duke midfield at times, the Texas native registered a pair of goals and an assist in his 1,366 minutes on the year. Mathers started 16 games on the year before missing the final three to injury. In his three seasons with the Blue Devils, Mathers has started all 51 of his games, scoring six goals and nine assists for 21 points.

Fjørtoft had an outstanding rookie season for the Blue Devils, earning ACC All-Freshman Team recognition. Helping to anchor a young backline, the Norwegian started all 19 games and led all Blue Devils in minutes played with 1,655. A threat on set pieces in Duke's offensive third, he registered his first career point with an assist against Davidson. Three games later, Fjørtoft put his name on the scoreboard with his first collegiate goal.

A walk-on goalkeeper, Fisher came through in a big way for the Blue Devils this past season. After a couple of injuries to starting goalkeeper Joe Ohaus, Fisher stepped in to successfully fill the hole. He started the season's final six games, made 27 saves, posted one shutout and finished with a 1.25 goals against average. He had career performances in consecutive games to finish the season, grabbing six saves in the come-from-behind victory over NC State in the ACC Tournament first round and getting six stops in the ACC Quarterfinal loss at Syracuse. In his six starts, Fisher went 4-2-0 overall.

Duke finished the year 9-9-1 overall and 4-4-0 in the challenging ACC.