The Blue Devils have a monkey on their backs.
Wait, think bigger.
"It is more like a huge piano on our shoulders that we do not know how to get off," senior forward Jordan Cila said.
Sunday afternoon, Duke's men's soccer team will try to stop its eight-game winless streak against Northwestern (3-2-4).
But if momentum counts for anything, the Blue Devils (2-7-1, 0-3 in the ACC) have a big challenge in front of them. The Wildcats have an impressive 3-0-2 record over their last five games, including a hard earned 1-1 tie against Big Ten opponent Michigan State. The tie broke a 22-game conference losing streak for the Wildcats, and the Northwestern soccer program is on the rise.
The Wildcats are led by freshman forward Gerardo Alvarez, who has a scintillating seven goals and three assists so far this season. Alvarez scored the game-tying goal against MSU on Sunday and has two game-winning goals to his credit.
Duke will also most likely be playing without an integral part of their defense, as standout freshman back Kyle Helton sustained a knee injury in last week's loss to Harvard. Senior defender and co-captain Matt Ahumada logged only 15 minutes during Wednesday's game at Davidson due to a minor injury, but he should be good to go Sunday, according to Duke head coach John Rennie.
Even though this weekend's showdown with the Wildcats presents the Blue Devils with a daunting task, their confidence still appears high.
"We are about as upbeat as you can be being 2-7-1," Cila said. "We have to win. We know there is zero margin for error the rest of the year."
Rennie echoed Cila's sentiments.
"We are handling it about as well as you can," Rennie said. "The players still believe we are a good team."
Talent has never been the problem for Duke this year. At every position the Blue Devils have solid players who understand their roles, which makes this year's performance puzzling to everyone--Rennie's teams have finished with winning records in 23 of his 24 seasons at Duke.
"It has been kind of a frustrating season," Ahumada said. "We do not know what's going on. We just cannot seem to get results."
Cila appeared convinced that a "curse" was the source of the many pitfalls this year.
"To be honest, I do not think any of us can figure out what is going on. It is the biggest mystery I have ever had in my playing days. It is a matter of luck and we are not getting lucky."
During the Blue Devils' slide, they have only been outscored by a combined margin of nine goals.
"I had teams at Columbia University that had real poor records, but those teams usually deserve those records." Rennie said. "This team does not deserve the record it has."
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