Although No. 4 Duke only needed to take small steps this year to improve upon its national quarterfinals finish last season, the team took a giant leap forward during the offseason, bolstering its roster with the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation.
With 13 seniors on the 29-man squad and head coach John Rennie leaving at the end of the season, bringing in such talent to an already-loaded team seems to ensure some degree of success in the near future.
The freshman class includes five nationally-recognized and highly-touted players at every position on the field.
Duke picked up two defensive stalwarts and Parade All-Americans in Christian Ibeagha and Doug Ferner, Rise Magazine's No. 1 defensive recruit. Goalkeeper Nick Tsipis of Perry, Ohio, who led his high school club to two state titles, brings even more depth and skill in net.
He will help back up senior Justin Papadakis, entering his third year between the posts. Although Perry might not see that much playing time this season, he could be Duke's future in goal.
Offensively, midfielder Cole Grossman and forward Nick Sih, rated the 19th and 20th recruits in the country, will reinforce Duke's dynamic offense, which ranked seventh nationally in scoring last season.
The individual awards and honors are critical to the ranking, but the young players wasted no time in showing their new teammates that they are not just big fish from little ponds.
"The freshmen have done a great job of working into the rhythm of the team," senior midfielder Mike Videira said. "They fit in pretty much right away, right off the bat. The first day they adjusted very well."
Rennie noted that this year's veteran players jelled with the newcomers more smoothly than in years past, and he lauded his upperclassmen for taking the freshmen under their wings.
"There's a lot of good players there, and if they wanted to, they could act very differently toward the younger guys on the team, but they don't," Rennie said. "That's one of the real reasons we have as strong a team from a character standpoint that we have."
For the most part, the Blue Devil seniors attribute their success to having built such a close team bond.
"Aside from the soccer aspect, we've had a really tight-knit class," senior captain Tim Jepson said. "We're a bunch of brothers-we've all got our backs. We all love being around each other."
For a squad that prides itself in creating a sense of family-continually stressing the importance of chemistry and togetherness as ingredients for success-the early comraderie that has developed among the freshmen seems reminicent to that of this year's seniors.
And if the Class of 2008's success is any indicaton, the next four years could continue to be very promising for the Blue Devils.
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