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
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 20
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 19
Record	11–4–3 (4–3–1 ACC)
Head coach	John Kerr (16th season)
Assistant coaches	Michael Brady (16th season) Kyle Renfro (4th season)
Home stadium	Koskinen Stadium
Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 ACC men's soccer standings

v t e	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
‡ – ACC tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2023 NCAA tournament 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

Main article: 2022 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer team

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

Players leaving

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

Incoming Transfers

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

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

Roster

As of January 29, 2024^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. 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

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

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

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

Main article: 2024 MLS SuperDraft

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

Main article: 2023 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer^[15]	4 (1)	3	10	8	11	21	14	15	9	8	8	8	Not released				20
TopDrawer Soccer^[16]	5	4	8	3	12	21	12	13	8	8	7	8	11	19	19	19	19

References

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. "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.