Duke wary of Thundering Herd pulling sneak attack

When the No. 11 men's soccer team squares off against the Thundering Herd of Marshall tonight, the Blue Devils will be concentrating most on one thing-not allowing Marshall to sneak up on them.

"It's the kind of game we're expected to win," Duke coach John Rennie said. "If you do win, then you were expected to win. If you don't win, that would be considered a tragedy. It's a difficult game to get up for in that sense."

The Blue Devils (7-2, 1-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) have played overpowering soccer for much of the season, including during its three-week stint as the top-ranked team in the nation. However, after winning their first six games, mental lapses have contributed to the Blue Devils' two recent losses, a 4-1 defeat at Maryland and a 3-2 home loss to North Carolina on Sunday. Duke came out sluggish early in both games, a habit it will try to break against Marshall.

"There's not a whole lot you can do about [starting out flat] except to be more ready to play, and that's a mental thing," Rennie said. "Being aware of it is the biggest thing we need to do, and at this point, we're certainly aware of it."

Despite the Blue Devils' recent skid, there should be very few changes in the Duke lineup for this game, mainly due to the fact that Rennie is for the most part satisfied with his team's play thus far. The Blue Devils have been especially potent offensively, averaging almost two and a half goals per game through nine matches this season. The Duke offense is paced by senior forward Brian Kelly, who leads the team in scoring with four goals, despite missing two games due to injury.

"You make a lot of changes if you're not playing well," Rennie said. "We're still playing very, very well... we just don't want to give up any goals that aren't really well earned."

The one change Duke will probably make against Marshall is in goal, where junior starting goalkeeper John Morton suffered a broken bone in his thumb earlier in the week. Morton has led Duke's strong defensive effort with a 0.97 goals against average this fall. Morton will most likely be replaced in the nets by freshman Eric Bassingthwaighte, who has seen minimal game action for the Blue Devils this season.

Tonight's game is scheduled for 7 p.m., at the Duke Soccer Stadium.