Men's soccer entertains No. 7 Wake Forest Saturday

As has been the case throughout the season, the men's soccer team has another vital match ahead this weekend. Saturday at 7 p.m., the Blue Devils (8-8, 2-2 in the ACC) will square off against the No. 7 team in the nation, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11-3-1, 2-1-1), at Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem.

Wake Forest might be the hottest team in the nation currently. The Demon Deacons are on a seven-game winning streak, and are unbeaten in their last nine matches. Moreover, Wake boasts the leading scorer in the ACC, sophomore Jeremiah White, a native of Lansdowne, Penn. White has scored an incredible 12 goals in 13 games, and has recorded a total of 30 points. In addition, he has scored a goal in each of his last seven games, and the Demon Deacons are 9-0 when he records a goal.

"He is a lot like Ryan Gibbs from Virginia. He is very quick, very fast and is a great finisher," Duke coach John Rennie said. "We did a pretty good job against Gibbs, and we are going to have to do a great job against White. He is very tough to contain, so we are going to have to try to double-team him."

While Wake Forest is coming into the match with its tremendous streak--the second longest winning streak in the school's history--Duke is 1-3 in its last four matches. In addition, the Blue Devils will again be without the services of the heart of their defense, sophomore Matt Ahumada, who ruptured his ACL and tore his lateral meniscus in the Blue Devils' 2-1 overtime loss to UNC-Greensboro Oct. 26.

"Wake is having a great year," Rennie said. "It's going to be a tremendous challenge. We'll have to have our very best game."

The game should feature a great battle between Wake's potent offense and Duke's stingy defense. During their nine-game unbeaten streak, the Demon Deacons have averaged 3.3 goals per game, up from 2.2 goals per game for all of last season. The Duke defense will be lead as usual by senior goalkeeper Scott Maslin, who has a minute 0.84 goals against average, and has recorded five shutouts this season.

The importance of the game is compounded by the fact that Duke is in dire need of some victories to remain hopeful for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament later this month. After the Wake game, the Blue Devils have only one remaining regular-season match, at Clemson next week, and then will proceed onto the ACC tournament.

"The good news is that we've had a lot of success lately against Clemson and Wake Forest," Rennie said. "We are 9-1 in our last 10 games against Wake. It's both a good news-bad news situation. The good news is that we get to play top-ranked opponents, and it gives us a chance to make a statement about our own team. The bad news is that we are playing some really good teams. A win against Wake would be a big help to our chances [of making the NCAA tournament]."