The Chronicle
Forty-nine wins, two regular season ACC titles, one ACC tournament title.
Those were the totals heading into this season for the seven seniors on the Duke soccer team. An unusually large group, they came in to heavy expectations, especially their own.
"One of the things that makes this senior class so unique is that we came in thinking we could win four national championships," Ali Curtis said.
Although they have not lived up to that near-perfection, this group has improved its record for three years, and it dominated ACC play last season.
The group's prep credentials and their high expectations might have predicted such a result, but head coach John Rennie said nothing in soccer is a sure thing.
"You have high expectations for every group," he said. "It was a large group and a very talented group, but that's all they were, expectations. Some people call them recruits, some call them prospects, some call them suspects."
Perhaps the most significant thing about this group of seniors is that all seven of them will see a lot of time this season, and most
"It's truly been a wonderful scenario," Nii-Amar Amamoo said. "We were starting five or six of us as both freshmen and sophomores, so most of us have started our entire Duke careers."
The class of 2001 provides the leadership and the talent from the back to the front for the 2000 Blue Devils.
It starts with Jeff Haywood in the net. Haywood spend two season learning under Atli Knutson. In his debut last year, he allowed a minuscule .80 goals per game and tallied seven shutouts. Rennie said that if anyone from this class is a surprise, it is Haywood, who was a bit of an unknown coming from the soccer nether-world of Maine.
"I came to Duke because I thought I could play here," Haywood said. "It was a good situation for me playing under Atli for two years. Obviously I would have liked to play more, but it has worked out for me."
In front of Haywood are defenders Ryan Furguson, Dwayne Harris and Amamoo.
Furguson has been described as the most improved member of the class by teammates. He increased his playing time for two years before becoming a starter as a junior.
Harris is a four-year starter, who had the game-winning assist against Virginia in the ACC championship game.
Amamoo was first team at the ACC tournament and second team All-ACC last season.
In the midfield are Stephen Pate, who scored the winning goal in the ACC tournament last season, and Robert Russell. Russell was All-ACC last season, and a member of the ACC all-tournament team.
And at the top, there's Curtis. Curtis is last season's Hermann Trophy winner as national player of the year, and a serious threat to break Duke's career goal-scoring record.
But as much as the senior class brings in terms of talent, Rennie said that its attitude will be the biggest factor this season.
"These seniors have started to realize how important one year can be," he said. "This group has had a tremendous career up to this point, what's going to determine how good they are is how we finish-up this year."
That might seem like a lot of pressure, but the seniors have never shied from expectations.
"I'd like our class to be remembered as the most dominant class ever to come through Duke," Curtis said.
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