Kyle Bethel is hunched over, off to the side on a bench by himself, watching his teammates scrimmage on this steamy morning. It's clear he would rather be a part of the scuffles 25 yards ahead of him, but there's nothing he can do about it. After breaking his arm in Duke's Sept. 30 meeting with Stony Brook, Bethel's freshman season is over.
And with Bethel gone, Duke is suddenly without its second-leading scorer.
"It's very difficult to replace a player of Kyle's caliber, who's had a great start to his career-four goals, two assists-and was a constant threat up front for us," head coach John Kerr said.
Bethel's absence showed in the Blue Devils' only game without their talented forward, as they struggled to create scoring opportunities, getting outshot by Boston College 17-3. And Bethel, the second half of Duke's forward line along with preseason All-American Mike Grella, couldn't help this time. He didn't even make it out to Chestnut Hill for the 1-0 Duke win that night.
From early on in the season, Bethel and Grella had proved highly complementary in front, with Grella adept at playing short balls and Bethel skilled at making the long runs. But without another player who could duplicate Bethel's strengths, the Blue Devils adjusted their formation against Boston College, opting not to play another forward next to Grella.
Although sophomore Cole Grossman doesn't think the game was as lopsided as the statistics suggest, he admitted that Duke may not have been the better team that night.
"We were a little bit lucky, to be honest-they were definitely better than us," Grossman said. "They outshot us 17-3, [but] I wouldn't say they outplayed us by that differential. We defended really hard all game, got a little bit lucky at the end and Grella made an unbelievable play."
The Blue Devils know they need more than just luck in their final stretch of games. So far, Grella has shouldered the offensive load, tallying four goals over the last two games. But for Duke, it is imperative to get other players involved.
"We can't rely just on Mike Grella to score all our goals," Kerr said. "We have to make sure [others] are getting in some good spots in the final third and contributing to the point total."
The Blue Devils sound ready to take on the challenge, and Kerr isn't afraid to name the players who can, and must, contribute. Grossman, Temi Molinar, Joseph Pak, Josh Bienenfeld, Kwasi Ayisi-if a few of those players can become true threats on offense, Duke might be able to get by without Bethel.
"I think we can all score goals," Grossman said of the midfielders. "If other people can step up and score... [considering] the rate Grella's been scoring-we can be really, really dangerous."
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