Men's Soccer Gearing Up for ACC Tournament Semifinal

Game 20
ACC Tournament Semifinal
No. 24 Duke (10-6-3) vs. No. 13 Boston College (13-5-0)
November 11, 2011 l 7:30 p.m.
Cary, N.C. l WakeMed Soccer Park

Live Video l Live Stats l Twitter

Setting the Scene
Duke advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals after outlasting Clemson in a penalty kick shooout, 5-4 ... The Blue Devils and Tigers finished play scoreless to force the shootout ... Boston College earned a spot in the semifinal round with a 2-1 victory over No. 2 seed Maryland ... These two squads have met each of the previous two seasons as well.

Boston College Series History
Duke and Boston College are meeting for the 10th time overall and for the third time in the ACC Tournament ... The Eagles hold a slight 5-4 advantage in the series after earning a 2-1 double overtime win in Newton earlier this season ... Boston College has won both tournament games, posting 1-0 shutout victories in 2009 and 2010.

Duke in the ACC Tournament
Duke sports an 18-9-4 all-time record in the ACC Tournament and an 0-2-0 record against the Eagles ... The Blue Devils are appearing in the semifinals for the 13th time overall and for the first time since 2006 when they last won the title ... Duke's last win came in 2006 ... Duke is 6-6-0 in semifinal games overall and is 1-1 as the No. 3 seed in those contests ... The last time Duke was the No. 3 seed was in 2000, advancing to the semifinals before falling to second seed Virginia ... Duke has not scored a goal in the past three ACC Tournament games.

Scouting the Blue Devils
Duke looks to continue its five-game unbeaten streak ... The Blue Devils are 10-6-3 overall and 5-2-2 in their previous nine games ... Headlining the potent Duke offense is junior forward Andrew Wenger with 17 goals and 42 points overall, both leading the ACC ... Senior Christopher Tweed-Kent is second on the team in points with five goals and 12 assists for 22 points ... He has 13 points in the previous seven games, including seven in the past four ... Freshman Nick Palodichuk is the team's top freshman scorer with six goals and five assists for 17 points, ... Overall, Duke has scored 41 goals, which is third in the league ... Defensively, Duke is anchored on the backline by freshman Nat Eggleston, sophomores Sebastien Ibeagha and Jonathan Aguirre and senior Dan Tweed-Kent ... In goal, James Belshaw sports a 1.32 goals against average and a .719 save percentage.

Scouting Boston College
Boston College enters the semifinal contest with a 13-5-0 overall record and upset No. 2 seed Maryland, 2-1, to kick off the ACC postseason ... Three of the Eagles' five losses have come against teams ranked among the top three nationally ... Charlie Rugg leads the offense with eight goals and five assists for 21 points, while Kyle Bekker has seven goals and 20 points overall ... Diego Medina-Mendez is one of the top rookies in the league with seven goals and an assist ... Boston College has allowed 21 goals this season for a 1.15 goals against average ... Justin Luthy anchors the backline in goal with a 1.17 goals against average and a .767 save percentage ... The Eagles are 6-3 away from home this season and 2-3 against ranked squads.

Ibeagha Returns to Lineup
Sophomore center back Sebastien Ibeagha returns to the lineup against Boston College following a two-game suspension after a second red card of the season ... He missed the previous two outings and junior Andrew Wenger replaced him in the back in that stretch.

Five Blue Devils Earn All-Conference Honors
Duke placed four players on the All-ACC teams and two to the All-ACC Freshmen squad ... Juniors James Belshaw and Andrew Wenger were selected to the first team, while sophomore Sebastien Ibeagha and freshman Nick Palodichuk earned second team honors ... Palodichuk was the lone freshman voted to one of the two All-ACC squads ... Andrew Morales and Palodichuk picked up All-ACC Freshmen recognition.

Wenger Makes ACC History
Andrew Wenger became the first player in ACC history to win the three major awards since the conference created Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year honors ... He was ACC Freshman of the Year in 2009, ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and is this season's ACC Offensive Player of the Year ... He is the sixth player to win the top freshman of the year award and an then a conference player of the year honor later in his collegiate career ... The native of Lititz, Pa., is just the third Blue Devil to earn first team honors his first three seasons.

Duke Seven Game Streak Best for Kerr
Prior to Duke's 4-2 loss at No. 3 Maryland, the Blue Devils' seven-game unbeaten streak was the longest under head coach John Kerr and the best since Duke started the 2006 season at 6-0-1.

Narrow Losses
Five of Duke's six losses this season have come by one goal, including three that were decided in overtime ... The Blue Devils outshot each of their opponents in all six losses ... Duke has outshot all but three of its opponents this season.

Duke Scoring in the ACC
Duke's 20 goals against ACC foes during the regular season are the most by any Duke men's soccer team against league opponents since the inception of the league in 1953.

Duke's Top ACC Scoring Totals Duke had a tough schedule in 2011 ... The Blue Devils played three consecutive ranked opponents in the first two weeks of the year and have played five teams currently among the top 25.

20	2011
19	2000
18	1982

Tough Schedule

Opponent	Rank at day of game	Current Rank
Furman	NR	16
UC Santa Barbara	9	15
SMU	17	NR
Virginia	24	NR
North Carolina	5	3
Maryland	3	4
Boston College	18	13

Duke in the ACC & NCAA Statistical Rankings
Through games on Nov. 6, Duke ranked fourth nationally in scoring offense with 2.28 goals per game ... The 41 goals overall are ninth ... Individually, junior Andrew Wenger currently is second in total points, and fourth in total goals ... Christopher Tweed-Kent is second in total assists (12).

Team Category	ACC !	NCAA
Scoring Offense (2.16)	3	4
Total Goals (41)	3	9
Total Assists (39)	2	NA
Assists Per Game (2.28)	2	NA
Team GAA (1.30)	6	132
Shutout Percentage (0.26)	6	134
Win Percentage (0.605)	5	63

Individual	ACC	NCAA
Andrew Wenger
Total Points (42)	1	2
Points Per Game (2.21)	1	3
Goals Per Game (0.89)	2	6
Total Goals (17)	1	4
Total Assists (8)	3	13
Assists Per Game (0.42)	3	23
Nick Palodichuk
Total Points (20)	8	61
Points Per Game (1.11)	11	75
Total Goals (7)	9	72
Goals Per Game (0.37)	11	96
Total Assists (6)	5	58
Assists Per Game (0.32)	8	84
Chris Tweed-Kent
Total Points (22)	7	43
Points Per Game (1.16)	10	51
Total Assists (12)	1	2
Assists Per Game (0.63)	1	2
James Belshaw
Goals Against Average (1.32)	7	135
Save Percentage (0.719)	7	150
Total Saves (64)	7	82
Saves Per Game (3.56)	6	106
! Through Nov. 8

First Half Goal Key to Success
Duke has scored the first goal of a game 13 times this season and is 8-3-2 in those contests ... The Blue Devils are 8-1-1 when leading at the half, 0-2 when trailing and 2-3-1 when tied ... Overall Duke has 18 goals in the first half and 23 in the second half ... The Blue Devils have scored at least one goal in the first half in nine of their 10 victories.

Duke's High Powered Offense
After being held scoreless in consecutive games on Sept. 4 and Sept. 9, Duke has scored two-plus goals in 13 games ... In a four-game stretch from Sept. 16 to Sept. 27 Duke rolled off 17 goals, marking the first time since 1986 Duke registered four-plus goals in four consecutive games ... Duke's 41 goals in the regular season are the most since the 2004 team posted 44.

Games with 2-plus Goals

Date	Opponent	Result
Aug. 26	at UNC Greensboro	L, 2-3
Sept. 9	UCSB	L, 2-3
Sept. 16	at Clemson	W, 5-2
Sept. 20	UNC Wilmington	W, 4-1
Sept. 23	Wake Forest	W, 4-1
Sept. 27	Presbyterian	W, 4-1
Sept. 30	at North Carolina	T, 2-2
Oct. 7	NC State	W, 4-2
Oct. 14	at Maryland	L, 2-4
Oct. 25	UNC Asheville	W, 3-0
Oct. 28	Virginia Tech	W, 2-1
Nov. 1	Elon	T, 2-2
Nov. 4	Mercer	W, 2-0

Wenger Moving Up the Charts
Junior forward Andrew Wenger is making his way up the Duke single-season scoring charts ... After playing center back his first two years, the native of Lititz, Pa., leads the ACC with 42 points from 17 goals and eight assists ... His 17 goals tie the Duke single-season mark, while the 42 points are fifth in single-season points ... He has a league-high eight multiple-point games and has had a hand in 25 of Duke's 41 goals this season.

Goals

1	Pato Gutierrez (1971)	17
	Ali Curtis (1999)	17
	Ryan Finley (2010)	17
	Andrew Wenger (2011)	17
5	Brian Kelly (1995)	16
	Tom Stone (1986)	16
	Bob Jenkins (1982)	16
8	Ali Curtis (2000)	15
	Jay Heaps (1995)	15
	John Kerr (1986)	15
11	Mike Grella (2008)	14
	Jason Kreis (1994)	14
	Tom Kain (1985)	14

Points

1	Tom Kain (1982)	46
2	Jason Kreis (1994)	44
	John Kerr (1986)	44
4	Brian Kelly (1995)	43
5	Andrew Wenger (2011)	42
6	Ali Curtis (1999)	40
7	Ali Curtis (2000)	39
	Jay Heaps (1995)	39
9	Tom Kain (1983)	38
10	Jason Kreis (1993)	37
	Ryan Finley (2010)	37

CTK is Duke's Assists Leader
Senior midfielder Christopher Tweed-Kent has scored at least one point in seven of the previous eight games ... He currently leads the team with a career-best 12 assists and is just two shy of climbing into the Duke single-season top 10 list ... He has registered two assists in three games this year.

Fab Freshman Scorer
Freshman Nick Palodichuk leads all ACC freshmen in points and is one of the top rookies and around the country ... Palodichuk currently is third among freshmen across the country with 20 points and is seventh with seven goals overall.

Freshmen Point Leaders

Jordan Ayris	Fairfield	10-3-23
Eriq Zavaleta	Indiana	9-3-21
C Nortey	Marquette	9-2-20
Nick Palodichuk	Duke	7-6-20
Nazmi Albadawi	NC State	8-3-19
Bryniar Benediktsson	Clemson	7-5-19
Zach Crandall	Longwood	8-2-18

Duke Rookies Among ACC Best
Six different Duke freshmen have scored a goal this season and overall they have combined for 13 goals and 13 assists for 39 points ... The 39 points from true freshmen rank second in the league behind Clemson, which has 14 freshmen on its roster ... Duke's 13 assists from first-year players are the most in the league.

Freshmen in the ACC

School	G-A-P
Clemson	16-10-42
Duke	13-13-39
NC State	7-9-23
Virginia	7-9-23
Wake Forest	6-8-20
Boston College	7-1-15
North Carolina	4-5-13
Virginia Tech	2-3-7
Maryland	1-2-4

Duke Trio Honored for Academics
The trio of Christopher and Daniel Tweed-Kent and Andrew Wenger recently were honored for their work in the classroom and on the soccer field ... They each were named to the Capital One Academic All-District III first team and will move onto the national ballot ... Duke was the only school to have more than two representatives on the first team.

Follow Duke on Twitter
The Duke men's soccer team is on Twitter ... Fans can follow @Duke_MSOC for in-game updates, pictures from Duke's travels and more.

Men's Soccer Gearing Up for ACC Tournament Semifinal

Players Mentioned

Jonathan Aguirre

James Belshaw

Nat Eggleston

Ryan Finley

Sebastien Ibeagha

Andrew Morales

Nick Palodichuk

Christopher Tweed-Kent

Daniel Tweed-Kent

Andrew Wenger

Duke information

Men's Soccer Gearing Up for ACC Tournament Semifinal

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Players Mentioned

Jonathan Aguirre

James Belshaw

Nat Eggleston

Ryan Finley

Sebastien Ibeagha

Andrew Morales

Nick Palodichuk

Christopher Tweed-Kent

Daniel Tweed-Kent

Andrew Wenger

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Duke information