It will be a history-making weekend for the men's soccer program.
For the first time in 13 years, the Blue Devils will go into a game ranked No. 1 in the nation. Duke will play in this weekend's Adidas-MetLife Classic as the top-ranked team in all three major collegiate soccer polls, something they have not been since 1983. The Blue Devils earned the top spot in the polls by defeating then-No. 3 SMU 2-0 last week at the Indiana Adidas-MetLife Classic, replacing Virginia at No. 1. The Cavaliers slid to No. 2 after tying Cal-State Fullerton 2-2 last weekend.
The athletic department is also using the weekend to induct Tom Kain into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame. Kain, the first four-time All-American in Duke history, starred for the Blue Devils from 1982 to 1985. He holds the record for career goals (51), assists (45) and points (147) at Duke. Kain is the first soccer player to be inducted into the Hall.
The Blue Devils (2-0), whose other victory was a season-opening 6-0 romp over Averett, are trying to harness all of the excitement of the weekend into positive energy for their upcoming two matches.
"We're just trying to ride the momentum into this weekend and on through the rest of the season," senior Brian Kelly said. "This weekend, with all of the people involved, provides some extra incentive to win."
Keeping with the historical theme, Duke has scheduled the Akron Zips as its opening-round opponent Saturday night. Akron was also the opponent when Duke won its only national championship in soccer. The Blue Devils defeated the Zips 1-0 in the NCAA finals in 1986, giving Duke its first-ever national championship in any sport.
While Duke should have little trouble with overmatched Akron this time around, its second-round contest with American Sunday afternoon should be a much tougher battle.
"American has scored a couple of big wins over some quality teams," Kelly said. "They have some players who can match skills with us on the field."
With this in mind, Coach John Rennie has done his best to keep his players' minds on the games, and not on being the top-ranked team in the country. Earlier in the week, he unceremoniously announced the news of the ranking to the team during practice.
"He told us, enjoy it... for about 10 minutes," Kelly said.
Nonetheless, Kelly, who is pacing the Blue Devils with two goals and two assists in his first two games, realizes that it's hard to complain about sitting atop all of the polls.
"It makes the weekend a little better for everyone involved, from the past players, present players, and future players to the coaches," Kelly said. "Being number one is something everybody wants in their college career, even if it's only for a week."
NOTES: The Adidas-MetLife Soccer Classic kicks off at Duke Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m. Saturday when Duke faces Akron. N.C. State will play American at 9 p.m. On Sunday, N.C. State will play Akron at 5 p.m., and Duke will square off against American at 7 p.m.... Duke's game against No. 13 Indiana last weekend was rained out at halftime with the score tied 0-0... Duke placed three players on the All-Tournament team at last weekend's Indiana Adidas-MetLife Classic. Kelly, sophomore Josh Henderson, and freshman Troy Garner were all named to the team. Garner was also awarded the tournament's Fair Play Award... Last Saturday's win over SMU was Rennie's 250th career win as head coach of the Blue Devils. Rennie has compiled a 250-87-23 record in 17 years at Duke.
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