The No. 6 Blue Devils (2-0) will battle a pair of tough opponents this weekend when College of Charleston (2-1) and No. 7 St. John’s University (1-0-1) come to Durham for the 8th annual Duke/adidas Classic.
Despite the challenge posed by a punishing St. John’s defense, the Blue Devils are looking forward to their first big test of the young season.
“St. John’s is going to be a very physical game,” senior midfielder Blake Camp said. “Hopefully we get a good crowd—I think there’s going to be a lot of energy out there. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to come out and actually move the ball right away, but it’s definitely something everybody is looking forward to.”
The Blue Devils have been unsuccessful against St. John’s in the past, dropping both of their two previous games against the perennial powerhouse. The Red Storm is coming off of a solid 12-6-4 season in 2004 in which it advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament before losing to Maryland. So far this season, the St. John’s defense appears to be its greatest asset; the Red Storm has yet to yield a goal through two games.
Goal keeper Jason Landers and defender Steven Old have been the Red Storm’s greatest contributors so far this season. Landers has been perfect through two games, saving all nine shots that have come his way and recording two shutouts. Meanwhile Old anchored St. John’s offense in their season opener against Holy Cross, scoring a goal and assisting on another.
The Blue Devils’ stellar defense has been equally impressive thus far this season. With both defenses playing so well, the outcome could come down to which team’s offense performs better.
Duke holds the advantage while attacking and fields a quicker and more talented team than the Red Storm. If the Duke offense can manage to wear down the St. John’s defenders, the Blue Devils will have the upper hand. Junior Chris Loftus and Freshman Mike Grella go into the weekend hungry to continue their scoring. Both forwards have netted a goal in each of Duke’s first two games.
“I would like to see us play the way we played against St. Louis,” said striker Spencer Wadsworth, who scored the Blue Devils’ second goal in their 3-0 win over the Billikens Sept. 3. “I know we didn’t score any [goals] in the preseason, but against St. Louis, it gave us the confidence that we can score and we can do those things against the top teams. Going into the two games this weekend, we just need to keep our composure and not get too nervous or anything like that.”
Though they may be excited for Sunday’s big match, Duke cannot look past the College of Charleston, which amassed a 17-6-1 record last year and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. This year, the Cougars field a young team, made up of many new players that sat out as redshirts last year.
Knowing the man that will be standing across from him on the sideline, head coach John Rennie expects the Cougars to be well-prepared and well-coached. College of Charleston head coach Ralph Lundy is in his 30th year of coaching and is 7th on the list of winningest coaches with 343 wins.
Duke will square off against College of Charleston tonight at 7:30 p.m., in the second game of the Duke/adidas Classic. Preceding them will be St. John’s and N.C. State (2-1). The Classic’s final set of games will take place Sunday afternoon. The day’s action begins with a noon matchup of N.C. State and the College of Charleston, immediately followed by the weekend’s premier game between Duke and St. John’s.
“Both teams have a lot of experience and are usually very mature, well established NCAA tournament teams,” Rennie said. “Charleston this year is a real good, solid team and St. John’s is always an outstanding team.”
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