Duke’s starting goalkeeper holds a 0.6 goals against average and had a game against Louisville last month that head coach John Kerr called “the best performance I’ve ever seen live.”
And he had never even heard of Duke five months before starting his career at Koskinen.
Meet James Belshaw. At 6’2”, 174 lbs, he certainly has a presence in the goal, and his origins in Nottingham, England give the team an international vibe. He has displayed remarkable abilities over his past two years for the Blue Devils, finishing last year with a record of 12-6-0, 54 saves and only 24 goals against.
This year promises better: ten games into the regular season, the sophomore has already put up 48 saves and has given up only six goals.
Belshaw, like many of his peers, started playing soccer early during his youth in England. Also, like many of his peers, Belshaw envisioned himself playing professionally in England one day, never even knowing that American collegiate sports existed.
His path to Duke, then, came from an unexpected source: YouTube.
“I was playing for a men’s team back home and our manager has a company that sends kids over to the States and he was sort of in touch with John Kerr,” Belshaw said. “They watched the video of me playing against Chelsea on YouTube and I sent a couple of game tapes over and then took it from there, really. The first time I ever came to America was to come here.”
Belshaw’s inaugural trip across the pond has only helped Duke. He has been an imposing force for the team, serving as a leader in the backfield and providing clutch saves on more than one occasion. Against Louisville Sept. 5, he tallied 15 saves, including a penalty save in overtime. Against North Carolina Sept. 17, he kept the Tar Heels at bay for nearly the entire game, only slipping once in the 1-0 loss. He also has three shutouts this year, already equaling his mark from last season.
And, as rumor has it, he could be a secret weapon outside of the box as well.
“Actually, I wasn’t a goalkeeper when I first started playing,” Belshaw said. “When I was really young I began playing in the field. Then we had a summer tournament when I was like six, and our goalkeeper was on holiday or something so they said, ‘We need someone to get in goal, will you get in goal?’ So I started playing in goal and then got scouted for an academy team and then just carried on playing goalkeeper from there.”
Growing up in England with exceptional soccer talent offers many more opportunities than in the States. In the game that would draw American attention, Belshaw played for Walsall FC in the FA Cup in 2008 against Chelsea’s youth team, part of the farm system for one of Europe’s best teams.
“We played them in the fourth round,” Belshaw said. “I was watching Chelsea last week in the Champions League and I think five, possibly six of their players on that team were on the team that I played against a couple years ago. They killed us but it was fun, definitely an experience.”
Belshaw has started this season well and is playing at a new level. His teammates and coaches think highly of him, both on and off the field.
“He’s our backbone of the defense and he’s the last line of defense,” Kerr said. “He’s come into camp really improved in a few aspects of his game, like his aerial game; he’s dominating his box and his decision-making has been much better. He’s been a real stalwart back there for us.”
Duke takes on N.C. State tomorrow in one of its final four conference games. Belshaw has high hopes for his team and this game.
“I’d like to win some silverware for the team within the next three years,” he said. “I think with the classes that we have coming in, and the great bunch of lads we’ve got now, there’s no reason why we can’t win anything.”
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