2023 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer team

The 2023 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer team represented Duke University during the 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The Blue Devils were led by head coach John Kerr, in his sixteenth season. They played their home games at Koskinen Stadium. The team was founded in 1935 and played the 2023 season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

2023 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer
NCAA Tournament, Second Round
ConferenceAtlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches pollNo. 20
TopDrawerSoccer.comNo. 19
Record11–4–3 (4–3–1 ACC)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Home stadiumKoskinen Stadium
Seasons
← 2022
2024 →
2023 ACC men's soccer standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Atlantic
No. 15 Wake Forest + 4 1 3 11 3 5
No. 1 Clemson 4 2 2 15 3 5
No. 25 Syracuse + 2 1 5 9 5 7
No. 24 Louisville + 2 4 2 12 6 3
NC State 1 5 2 6 9 3
Boston College 0 5 3 3 9 5
Coastal
No. 2 Notre Dame + 6 0 2 13 3 6
No. 13 Virginia + 5 2 1 11 4 4
No. 20 Duke+ 4 3 1 11 4 3
No. 6 North Carolina + 2 3 3 11 3 7
Pittsburgh + 2 3 3 6 7 4
Virginia Tech 2 5 1 4 9 4
As of December 12, 2023
Rankings from United Soccer Coaches
Source: The ACC

The Blue Devils finished the season 11–4–3 overall and 4–3–1 in ACC play to finish in third place in the Coastal Division. As the fifth overall seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated twelfth seed Boston College in the First Round before losing to eventual champions Clemson on penalties in the Quarterfinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and were awarded the fifteenth overall seed. Being a seeded team, they received a bye into the Second Round where they were defeated by Western Michigan to end their season.

Background

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The Blue Devils finished the season 13–2–4 overall and 5–0–3 in ACC play to finish in first place in the Coastal Division. As the first overall seed in the ACC Tournament, the received a bye into the Quarterfinals where they were upset at home by eighth seed Clemson. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and were awarded the seventh overall seed. Being a seeded team, they received a bye into the Second Round where they defeated Denver and then FIU in the Third Round before being upset by unseeded Creighton in the Quarterfinals.

Player movement

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Players leaving

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Departures
Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for Departure
Eliot Hamill 1 GK 6'2" 175 Graduate Student Scarsdale, New York Graduated
Peter Stroud 8 MF 5'10" 145 Junior Chester, New Jersey Signed Professional Contract with New York Red Bulls[1]
Scotty Taylor 9 FW 6'0" 157 Senior Millburn, New Jersey Graduated
Josh Kim 13 MF 5'11" 165 Freshman Whitestone, New York
Shakur Mohammed 14 MF/FW 5'10" 160 Sophomore Kumasi, Ghana Drafted 2nd overall in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft[2]
Santa Ihara 17 MF 5'11" 145 Junior Tokyo Japan
Carl Fisher 20 MF 6'0" 160 Senior White Plains, New York Graduated
Daniel Aguilar 21 MF 6'1" 175 Senior Baltimore, Maryland Graduated
Alex Bonnington 30 FW 6'1" 180 Freshman Rotherham, England Transferred to Boston University
Peter Wentzel 31 GK 6'3" 205 Graduate Student Ettlingen, Germany Graduated

Players arriving

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Incoming Transfers

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Incoming Transfers
Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School
Cameron Fisher 14 MF 6'0" 175 Graduate Student Scottsdale, Arizona North Carolina
Forster Ajago 21 FW 6'2" 178 Graduate Student Navrongo, Ghana Dayton
Fahmi Ibrahim 26 FW 6'0" 175 Graduate Student Alameda, California California

Recruiting Class

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Name Nat. Hometown Club TDS Rating
Ulfur Bjornsson
FW
  ISL Hafnarfjörður, Iceland Hafnarfjarðar N/A
Julian Eyestone
GK
  USA Dallas, Texas FC Dallas Academy      [3]
Nathan Gaviser
GK
  USA Edgemont, New York FC Westchester N/A[4]
Bull Jorgensen
MF
  NOR Asker, Norway Kongsvinger N/A
Andrew Myerson
MF
  USA Issaquah, Washington Eastside FC 04 ECNL N/A[5]

Squad

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Roster

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As of January 29, 2024[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
0 GK   USA Grant Farley
00 GK   USA Jacob Hochstein
1 GK   USA Julian Eyestone
2 DF   USA Amir Daley
3 DF   USA Kamran Acito
4 DF   NIR Lewis McGarvey
5 MF   USA Antino Lopez
6 MF   USA Cameron Kerr
7 MF   USA Felix Barajas
8 MF   NOR Bull Jorgensen
9 FW   ISL Ulfur Bjornsson
10 MF   USA Nick Pariano
11 FW   BER Jai Bean
12 MF   USA Ruben Mesalles
13 FW   USA Jose Ortega
14 MF   USA Cameron Fisher
No. Pos. Nation Player
15 FW   USA Krew Verratti
16 MF   USA Luke Thomas
17 MF   TRI Wayne Frederick
18 MF   USA Bryce Barnum
19 DF   USA Sintayehu Clements
20 MF   USA Andrew Myerson
21 FW   GHA Forster Ajago
22 MF   USA Drew Kerr
23 MF   USA Kenan Hot
24 DF   ISL Axel Gudbjornsson
25 FW   USA Miguel Ramirez
26 FW   USA Fahmi Ibrahim
28 MF   USA Sebastian Docters
29 DF   USA Nate Mulvaney
30 GK   USA Nathan Gaviser
32 MF   USA Jackson Lagos

Team management

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Position Staff
Athletic Director   Nina King
Head coach   John Kerr
Associate head coach   Michael Brady
Assistant Coach   Kyle Renfro
Volunteer assistant coach   Tristan Wierbonski

Source:[6]

Schedule

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Source:[7]

Date
Time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (Attendance)
City, State
Exhibition
August 12*
4:00 p.m.
No. 4 at UNC Asheville W 3–0 
Greenwood Soccer Field
Asheville, NC
August 16*
7:00 p.m.
No. 4 UNC Wilmington W 4–0 
Koskinen Stadium
Durham, NC
August 18*
4:00 p.m.
No. 4 at No. 17 Georgetown T 2–2 
Shaw Field
Washington, D.C.
Regular season
August 25*
7:30 p.m., ACCNX
No. 4 Jacksonville W 3–1  1–0–0
Koskinen Stadium (1,023)
Durham, NC
August 27*
2:30 p.m., ACCNX
No. 4 Furman W 6–0  2–0–0
Koskinen Stadium (1,129)
Durham, NC
August 31*
7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 3 Wofford T 2–2  2–0–1
Koskinen Stadium (645)
Durham, NC
September 4*
4:00 p.m., ESPN+
No. 3 at Princeton W 2–0  3–0–1
Roberts Stadium (1,200)
Princeton, NJ
September 8
7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 10 Virginia W 2–0  4–0–1
(1–0–0)
Koskinen Stadium (1,569)
Durham, NC
September 15
7:30 p.m., ACCNX
No. 8 at Clemson L 0–2  4–1–1
(1–1–0)
Riggs Field (2,953)
Clemson, SC
September 24
4:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 11 at North Carolina
Rivalry
L 1–2  4–2–1
(1–2–0)
Dorrance Field (2,858)
Chapel Hill, NC
September 26*
7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 21 Charleston W 3–2  5–2–1
Koskinen Stadium (418)
Durham, NC
September 29
7:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 21 No. 7 Syracuse W 5–3  6–2–1
(2–2–0)
Koskinen Stadium (1,524)
Durham, NC
October 7
7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 14 at No. 11 Notre Dame L 0–1  6–3–1
(2–3–0)
Alumni Stadium (1,451)
Notre Dame, IN
October 10*
7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 15 Elon W 3–0  7–3–1
Koskinen Stadium (559)
Durham, NC
October 13
8:00 p.m., ACCN
No. 15 NC STate W 2–1  8–3–1
(3–3–0)
Koskinen Stadium (1,457)
Durham, NC
October 21
7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 9 at No. 23 Pittsburgh T 0–0  8–3–2
(3–3–1)
Koskinen Stadium (1,180)
Durham, NC
October 24*
7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 8 Howard W 7–0  9–3–2
Koskinen Stadium (523)
Durham, NC
October 27
7:00 p.m., ACCNX
No. 8 Virginia Tech W 7–1  10–3–2
(4–3–1)
Koskinen Stadium (1,367)
Durham, NC
ACC Tournament
November 1
6:00 p.m., ACCN
(5) No. 8 (12) Boston College
First Round
W 3–2  11–3–2
Koskinen Stadium (435)
Durham, NC
November 5
6:00 p.m., ACCN
(5) No. 8 (4) No. 14 Clemson
Quarterfinals
T 3–3 (1–4 PKs)  11–3–3
Riggs Field (435)
Clemson, SC
NCAA Tournament
November 19
1:00 p.m., ESPN+
(15) No. 8 No. 16 Western Michigan
Second Round
L 1–2  11–4–3
Koskinen Stadium (1,213)
Durham, NC
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Eastern.

Awards and honors

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Recipient Award Date Ref.
Nick Pariano Pre-Season All-ACC Team August 26, 2023 [8]
Forster Ajago ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week August 29 [9]
Julian Eyestone ACC Defensive Player of the Week September 12 [10]
Nick Pariano ACC Offensive Player of the Week October 3 [11]
Forster Ajago ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week October 17 [12]
Forster Ajago ACC Offensive Player of the Year November 8, 2023 [13]
Forster Ajago All-ACC First Team
Nick Pariano
Ulfur Bjornsson All-ACC Second Team
Amir Daley
Julian Eyestone
Antino Lopez All-ACC Third Team
Ulfur Bjornsson All-ACC Freshman Team
Julian Eyestone

2024 MLS Super Draft

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Player Team Round Pick # Position
  Wayne Frederick Colorado Rapids 1 2 MF
  Antino Lopez Seattle Sounders FC 2 52 DF
  Ruben Mesalles Real Salt Lake 3 84 DF

Source:[14]

Rankings

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes
Week
PollPre123456789101112131415Final
United Soccer[15]4 (1)3108112114159888Not released20
TopDrawer Soccer[16]54831221121388781119191919

References

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  1. ^ Bulls, New York Red. "New York Red Bulls Sign Two-Time ACC Midfielder of the Year Peter Stroud to Homegrown Deal". New York Red Bulls.
  2. ^ Citro, Michael (21 December 2022). "2023 MLS Draft: Orlando City Selects Shakur Mohammed No. 2 Overall". The Mane Land. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Julian Eyestone". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  4. ^ "Nathan Gaviser". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  5. ^ "Andrew Myerson". topdrawersoccer.com. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "2023 Men's Soccer Roster". goduke.com. Duke University Athletics. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  7. ^ "2023 Men's Soccer Schedule". goduke.com. Duke Blue Devils Athletics. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
  8. ^ "Clemson Selected 2023 Preseason ACC Men's Soccer Favorite". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. August 16, 2023. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
  9. ^ "ACC Announces Men's Soccer Player of Week Honors". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. August 29, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  10. ^ "UofL's Guerra, Duke's Eyestone Claim ACC Men's Soccer Player of Week Honors". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. September 11, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2023.
  11. ^ "Duke's Pariano, UVa's Batrouni Named ACC Men's Soccer Players of Week". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. October 3, 2023. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  12. ^ "ACC Announces Men's Soccer Players of Week". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. October 17, 2023. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  13. ^ "2023 All-ACC Men's Soccer Team Announced". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  14. ^ "Three Blue Devils Selected in 2024 MLS SuperDraft". goduke.com. Duke University Athletics. December 20, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  15. ^ "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 NCAA DI Men — National". unitedsoccercoaches.org. United Soccer Coaches. December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  16. ^ "College Soccer National Ranking". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. December 11, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.