The men's soccer team is always happy when it scores a goal. But the Blue Devils don't always swarm and pile onto the goal scorer in easy victories, as they did Oct. 18 when Evan Whitfield sent the ball into the net against N.C. State.
In celebrating a relatively meaningless play in an already-decided game, the team acknowledged that with his first career goal, Whitfield had finally accomplished just about everything in collegiate soccer that can be done.
And with that goal behind him, Whitfield-a Parade All-America in high school and honorable mention All-America last year-will graduate in December to pursue a professional soccer career.
His record at Duke is near-perfect. He has started every game he's played in since his freshman year, anchoring the Blue Devil defense.
"He's probably the best attacking defender in the country," coach John Rennie said. "It's unusual for a defender to be that good at going forward. It's been delightful having him here."
And this year, Whitfield may have exorcised the one demon which plagued him earlier in his Duke career-the yellow card.
Collegiate soccer rules mandate that a player sit out one game after the first five yellow cards, and a game for each three yellow cards after that.
"We used to set aside the Evan Whitfield Memorial Game," Rennie said, referring to an easy game late in the season which the team didn't need Whitfield for. "We knew he'd have five cards by then."
As a result of the eight yellow cards he accumulated in 1995, Whitfield had to miss one game his freshman year and the first game of his sophomore year. He also received at least five cards his sophomore and junior seasons.
"I've missed a game for suspension every year," he said. "I don't know if I have some kind of record or not. I don't know why I get the yellow cards. Freshman and sophomore year I was much more fiery and less disciplined."
With two games left until the end of the regular season and three yellow cards so far, Whitfield is pretty sure he'll slide in under the suspension limit.
"I think I've curbed my emotional involvement," Whitfield said. "It's just a matter of mental concentration on my part-winning the game instead of individual battles. Being a captain, I have a little more responsibility."
Last spring, Whitfield learned a considerable amount about responsibility when he took five-and-a-half classes in addition to traveling for nearly a month with the Under-23 national team. That team will turn into the Olympic team this January, and Whitfield will likely move on to a new phase in his soccer career.
"The Olympic team is really a priority for me," Whitfield said. "That's a goal I wouldn't want to let go. I'd much rather represent my country than play for a club team."
January is also the month when Whitfield plans to enter the Major League Soccer draft. He isn't sure whether he wants to continue with soccer in the United States or play in Europe, where soccer is played at a higher level.
Professional and Olympic soccer are goals which Whitfield has had since the age of five, when he began playing soccer. Unlike most young athletes, Whitfield never played any other organized sport.
"I started serious soccer from an early age," Whitfield said. "Nothing else really interested me."
His interest in soccer intensified at age eight, when he met Luis Dabo and joined Dabo's club team. Dabo, a former professional from West Africa, is synonymous with quality soccer in Arizona.
"When people think of Arizona, they think of desert and cactus-and there's not much competitive soccer there either," Whitfield said. "I had a real unique experience with [Dabo]. Everybody good from Arizona trained with him.
"He's been a really big part of my life. I just got a phone call from him from Portugal."
Noah Lewkowitz, a freshman on the Duke team, also trained with Dabo and played with Whitfield at Brophy Prep in Phoenix. Over the years, Whitfield has made a strong impression.
"He's one of the nicest guys I've ever met," Lewkowitz said. "He's a good leader."
In his junior year of high school, Whitfield transferred to Brophy Prep from a public school, but he was not able to join the soccer team until senior year. By the time that team won the state championship his senior season, Whitfield had already committed to Duke.
"I went to a Jesuit prep school and I didn't want to continue the religious thing with priests and all that," Whitfield said. "After my recruiting trip to Duke, I sent all my plane tickets back for other schools."
At Duke, Whitfield has accomplished everything he set out to do. The goal against the Wolfpack was the culmination of his collegiate career, and now he's ready to move on to whatever his future may hold. His coach, for one, has no doubt in his abilities.
"He's just matured a lot as a player," Rennie said. "He's willing to do what he needs and he's very goal-oriented. He should be successful at whatever he does."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.