One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. And for the men's soccer team, the narrow loss to Jacksonville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament casts a shadow over an otherwise-impressive season.
The Blue Devils made the ACC Tournament finals for the first time since 1994. They still remain the only team in the country that has beaten Clemson this year. And they made the NCAA Tournament.
But for Duke, just making the tournament this year wasn't supposed to be enough.
"Our goal all year was to get to the Final Four," Pete Gail said. "I still feel disappointed because we had higher goals than we ended up achieving."
"What counts is the NCAA Tournament," Ali Curtis added. "It really hurts for us to have lost that first- round game. It hurts a lot."
And what happened in that first-round game put a damper on the whole season. The teams were tied 1-1 at halftime, but the Dolphins' high-powered offense struck twice in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Duke was able to answer with one goal, but couldn't tie the game before time ran out. And before a crowded Duke Soccer Stadium, the Blue Devils' season came to a premature end.
"An absolute nightmare struck in the first game of the tournament," said coach John Rennie. "Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. If we play that team 10 times,
That loss fell right after a high point of the season-an appearance in the ACC Tournament finals. The Blue Devils won tough games over both Wake Forest and Virginia to advance to the finals, where they lost to Clemson in a 1-0 battle.
The Blue Devils' three games in four days during the tournament gave them valuable experience playing with fatigue-experience that they had hoped to use in the NCAA Final Four. And the tournament also afforded them their first win over Virginia since 1995, a 3-1 victory in double overtime.
"Getting to the ACC finals was a tremendous accomplishment," Rennie said. "The trend had been that we would... lose to Virginia in the postseason, and we reversed that this year."
Although the Blue Devils lost in the ACC finals, their 2-0 victory over the then-No. 1 Tigers in the regular season marked another high point. In that game, sophomore Matt Mayock put Duke on the board with a perfect shot into the upper-right corner of the goal.
Duke claimed the No. 1 national ranking after that game, but lost the next week to perpetual-spoiler Maryland. The Blue Devils were set to face the Terrapins in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Maryland eventually defeated Jacksonville 3-0.
Duke's only other defeat of the season was a 3-2 loss to Virginia in Charlottesville. That game marked Curtis' return from a knee injury, and kicked off a streak in which he scored a goal in five straight games.
Two players who provided unexpected contributions were freshman walk-on Scott Noble and senior Eric Otto. Noble ended the season starting and playing a key role as midfielder and Otto, who had limited playing time in his first three years, filled in admirably in the midfield while Evan Whitfield was injured.
"Those are the things you love to see in a team," Rennie said. "It was a tremendous surprise in a positive way."
In addition to Otto, Rennie will have to deal with the loss of seniors Whitfield, Jay Heaps and goalie Atli Knuttson.
Knuttson recorded 12 shutouts for the Blue Devils this season and Heaps and Whitfield continued to build on their All-America success.
"Guys like Evan and Jay, you don't replace them," Rennie said. "You just can't replace the things that those guys do. There's definitely going to be some rebuilding."
For Whitfield, his final season offers a chance to reflect.
"After the initial shock wears off, we'll remember this as a really good season," Whitfield said. "It was a bummer to lose in the tournament, but I'm proud of what we've accomplished over the four years."
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