The ninth-ranked men's soccer team will kick of its season with a home contest against unranked George Mason tonight at 8 p.m. at Duke Soccer Stadium.
The Patriots boast a potent offense led by midfielders Alex Texeira and Eduardo Lima, both natives of Brazil Lima and Texeira tallied 12 and 10 goals, respectively, last season.
And with sweeper Evan Whitfield sitting out the first half of September with a stress fracture in his right fibula and defender Robert Russell doubtful for tonight's matchup after pulling a hamstring in practice last week, George Mason will be facing a depleted Blue Devil defense.
To replace Whitfield, Duke coach John Rennie intends to start freshman Kevin Sakuda at sweeper. Sophomores Dwayne Harris and Nii-Amar Amamoo will also start on defense in the opener.
"We'll be a little less experienced," Rennie said. "We're going to have to play a freshman, which we wouldn't do yet if everyone were healthy."
Although Rennie hadn't planned on starting a freshman this early in the season, he does expect to see several receive substantial playing time. In addition to Sakuda, midfielders Noah Lewkowitz and Dan Chun could log significant minutes. After a slow start, the freshmen have begun to gel with the rest of the team.
"One of the things that makes this freshman class different from my class is that they're a little more shy and timid on and off the field than we were," sophomore striker Ali Curtis said. "But lately they've been coming into their own. They're fitting in well with the team."
Duke believes that its experienced sophomore class can fill the void and ease the loss of its two veteran starters. Last season, the Blue Devils often started five or six freshmen each game, which included Curtis, Harris and Amamoo as well as midfielders Stephen Pate and Matt Mayock. The playing time that these sophomores accumulated during their freshman campaign helps puts Duke one step ahead of where it was last year.
"So far in the preseason, we're a lot farther along than we were at this point last year," Rennie said.
As they head into their season opener, the Blue Devils will find out how much of a difference that one step will make.
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