Duke men's soccer looks to break six-game winless skid against No. 23 Hofstra

After nearly four weeks without a victory, Duke will take the field Monday attempting to return to winning form.

The Blue Devils will play under the lights Monday at 7 p.m. against No. 23 Hofstra. The contest will be Duke's third match in just six days, after it drew with Davidson on the road Tuesday and fell against Syracuse Friday. The Blue Devils got off to a hot start to the season with wins in each of their first four matches and an impressive tie against defending national champion Virginia.

But since then, not much has gone right for head coach John Kerr's squad. The match against the Cavaliers was followed by three consecutive losses, all of which came against ranked teams. After a tie against Davidson, Syracuse—which sits just outside of the top 25—dispatched the Blue Devils (4-4-2) Friday by a final score of 3-1. 

The Pride (8-2-0) is coming off a 1-0 overtime victory against William & Mary Saturday. Junior Joseph Holland leads the team from the midfield with 15 points. He is closely followed by sophomore midfielder Meshack Eshun Addy, who has six goals and two assists for a total of 14 points.

Syracuse is one opponent that both Hofstra and Duke have in common. In August, Hofstra toppled the then-No. 15 Orange by a final score of 2-1 to kick off its regular season. Although this is the first meeting between the programs, the Blue Devils have a successful history against members of the CAA, entering Monday's contest with an all-time record of 42-20-4.

Duke’s offensive production has largely come from sophomores, who have accounted for two-thirds of the Blue Devils’ goals this season. The most notable contributor is sophomore forward Jeremy Ebobisse, who has five goals on the season. But the Bethesda, Md., native will be attempting to stem a drought of five games without a goal to his name, as his last time finding the net was against Virginia Sept.11.

After Ebobisse’s dominant stretch at the beginning of the season, the scoring has spread to a more varied group. Senior Zach Mathers is the only player who has tallied more than one goal in the past five games, with Brian White, Brody Huitema and Macario Hing-Glover all adding one apiece during the same period.

The Blue Devils will take this brief respite from conference play as a chance to regroup and come together as a team before a tough ACC match against No. 7 Notre Dame Saturday on the road.