The Blue Devils battled two top-10 opponents to draws in exhibition play.
Now they hope to sustain their level of play in the games that actually count.
Duke will host San Diego at 7:30 p.m. Friday and UNC-Asheville at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in this weekend's John Rennie Nike Invitational at Koskinen Stadium. The season-opening games are part of a four-game showcase in Durham that will also feature Elon.
The Blue Devils have won the John Rennie title each of the past three seasons, and with a revamped defense steadied by graduate student goalkeeper Robert Moewes—who surrendered just two total goals in nearly 160 minutes of exhibition play—appear poised to start their season on a positive note once again.
"We want to defend the John Rennie Nike Invitational trophy, and we want to make sure we continue that momentum," Duke head coach John Kerr said. "This opening game of the season, everyone is excited and hyped up about the opportunity to show what we can do and demonstrate how excited we are to begin the season."
The Blue Devils nearly pulled off an early-season upset against No. 3 Clemson last Friday, holding a 2-1 lead on the Tigers with less than 10 minutes remaining thanks to a pair of goals from juniors Carter Manley and Cameron Moseley.
A late penalty kick goal allowed Clemson to equalize, but Kerr's squad took a number of positives from that matchup as well as their 0-0 draw against No. 10 Georgetown three days prior.
“The biggest thing is that we keep moving forward, keep improving on the things we need to," Manley said. "To have a shutout against Georgetown was a really big thing for us, because defensively, that’s been one of our big focuses during the preseason. We’ve continued to work on pressing defensively as a team, making sure everybody’s on the same page."
Communication has been key to Duke's early success—and much of that credit goes to Moewes. Although the Dortmund, Germany, native and Binghamton transfer made just two saves against Clemson, one was a big-time stop just 68 seconds into the second half that preserved the Blue Devil 2-1 lead for most of the period.
The Blue Devils, who finished 10-7-2 overall last season, will open the season against the reigning West Coast Conference regular season champion Toreros. Like Duke, San Diego has holes in its lineup, and is trying to replace its top three scorers from last season.
Sunday's opponent—UNC Asheville—had the second-worst scoring offense in the Big South Conference and has to fill a void left by former goalkeeper Zak Davis, who led the conference in saves per game.
Last season, Duke allowed 1.58 goals per game—the most of any team in the ACC—and Blue Devil goalkeepers ranked second-to-last in saves per game with only 2.63. This year, Duke hopes it can rely on a more experienced defensive unit featuring Moewes and an experienced back line.
“We have some experience back there," Kerr said. "Max Moser is a very experienced player—he’s started on his U19 national team for Austria and also played in a professional league before he got here as an amateur. He’s very experienced in the back."
Moser is one of three freshmen who started in each of the Blue Devils' exhibition matchups last week, along with fellow defender C.C. Uche and midfielder Suniel Veerakone.
Kerr also brought forward Colby Agu and midfielder Brandon Williamson off the bench in both games, with the duo and Veerakone potentially providing an offensive boost for Duke with forward Brody Huitema and midfielder Brian White battling injuries in the preseason.
"It’s exciting to have five guys that are going to really help us out right away this year,” Kerr said.
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."