The Blue Devils are banged up and facing two new opponents this weekend-but they are still ready to start the season.
No. 4 Duke will begin its regular season against Delaware 7 p.m. tonight in Koskinen Stadium and face Valparaiso at the same time Sunday. The Blue Devils have never played either team, but they will have a chance to scout the Crusaders against N.C. State this afternoon.
"It's a little more difficult because you just can't prepare exactly for it," senior midfielder Michael Videira said.
"But then again, we're the type of team that has other people play to our style, rather than try to change to theirs.... We just have to make sure that we're ready for whatever they have."
Both the Blue Hens and Crusaders finished under .500 last year, which was still a vast improvement on their 2005 campaigns. And by coming to North Carolina to play N.C. State and Duke as part of the Wolfpack Classic, Delaware and Valparaiso have shown that they believe they have improved further.
These games are scheduled a year in advance and are traditionally difficult, so opposing coaches must believe that they have some of their better teams in recent years, Duke head coach John Rennie said.
"These games are difficult," senior goalkeeper Justin Papadakis said. "Coming down to Duke, it's one of the biggest games on their schedule. So we're targets this year, even more so than in the past three years."
Duke will be challenged further because it will be shorthanded this weekend. Senior defenseman Tim Jepson is out with a pulled thigh muscle and will likely be replaced by freshman Christian Ibeagha in the starting lineup.
Meanwhile, Spencer Wadsworth, Zach Pope and Paul Dudley are all returning from offseason surgeries, so they are not yet in top form. The Blue Devils' depth- an area the team is confident in-will be tested against Delaware and Valparaiso.
"We're a little banged up," Rennie said. "We need the season to start to get rejuvenated. Those aches and pains tend to go away when the real game comes."
The team also has plenty of other motivation as the season kicks off. As if the heartbreaking finish last year-the Blue Devils lost 3-2 in overtime to UCLA in the national quarterfinals-was not enough, this is the last season for Rennie and the team's 13 seniors.
"It's all more motivation," Videira said. "[We're going to take it] one game at a time, but at the same time there are a lot of other factors that are related to more people wanting it maybe more this year than in the past."
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