Sometimes the waiting is the hardest part. Just ask Evan Whitfield and the men's soccer team.
Although it has started the season with three wins and jumped up to the sixth spot in this week's national polls, Duke still eagerly awaits the return of Whitfield, a defender. Despite their solid early season showing, the Blue Devils realize that a healthy Whitfield is crucial to the long-term success of this year's squad.
Duke (3-0-0) has performed remarkably well without its senior co-captain in precisely the area that it expected the most problems to occur during Whitfield's absence-defense. Even without its star stopper, the Duke defense has given up just one goal in its first three games, albeit against a somewhat weaker schedule.
All that stands in the way of Whitfield's return to the lineup now is two games this weekend against Richmond (1-0-1) and No. 16 James Madison (2-0-0) as the Blue Devils host the Duke adidas Soccer Classic.
With Whitfield expected to return to the lineup early next week, coach John Rennie hopes that his players will continue to step up in the absence of the Blue Devils' standout defender during the two games this weekend.
"That's really one of our challenges right now-to play two more games until we get our defensive captain back on the field," Rennie said.
Fortunately for the Blue Devils, the absence of Whitfield, to this point, has had a surprisingly positive effect. Since such injuries often upset the delicate balance that a team is accustomed to and forces certain players into new and uncomfortable roles, the injury of one of a team's star players almost always spells trouble for the rest of the squad.
For Duke, however, Whitfield's injury has resulted in the development of greater overall depth as defenders Eric Otto, Robert Russell and Dwayne Harris have gained valuable playing experience and have also meshed well together as a unit.
"The end result, if a player is out for a short period of time, quite often can be positive," Rennie said.
Despite the excellent play of the Blue Devil defense early on this year, Richmond and James Madison will most likely try to take advantage of the absence of Whitfield and test the less-experienced Duke defenders.
Both the Spiders and the Dukes hail from the Colonial Athletic Association-a conference widely respected for its level of competition in men's soccer.
Richmond is a veteran team that returns nine starters from last year's 9-7-4 squad. While boasting a strong soccer program with excellent tradition, the Spiders have not been to the NCAA tournament since 1990.
James Madison has fared better in recent years, reaching the NCAA Tournament six times in the past seven years. The Dukes are currently ranked 16th in the nation and own wins over Northeastern and Vanderbilt. Despite losing its two top scorers from last year, James Madison has had no problem finding the back of the net in its first two games-the Dukes have outscored their opponents 8-2.
"I think, so far, these are our biggest games as far as the quality of teams we have played," sophomore Eric Otto said.
The Blue Devils kick off the Duke-adidas Soccer Classic Friday with a 7 p.m. game versus Richmond at Duke Soccer Stadium and host James Madison Saturday at the same 7 p.m. starting time.
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