# 2021 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer team

The 2021 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer team represented Duke University during the 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer season. The Blue Devils were led by head coach John Kerr, in his fourteenth season. They played their home games at Koskinen Stadium. The team was founded in 1935 and currently plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Blue Devils finished the season 14–5–1 overall and 5–2–1 in ACC play to finish in a tie for first place in the Coastal Division. As the third overall seed in the ACC Tournament, the received a bye into the Quarterfinals where they defeated Wake Forest and then defeated Clemson in the Semifinals. They fell in the final to Notre Dame. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and were awarded the seventh seed. Being a seeded team, they received a bye into the Second Round where they defeated UCLA before losing to tenth seeded Saint Louis in the Third Round.

## Background

The teams' 2020 season was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which curtailed the fall season and caused the NCAA Tournament to be played in spring 2021. The ACC was one of the only two conferences in men's soccer to play in the fall of 2020. The ACC also held a mini-season during the spring of 2021.
The Blue Devils finished the fall season 2–6–0 and 2–4–0 in ACC play to finish in fourth place in the South Division. In the ACC Tournament they lost to Pittsburgh in the Quarterfinals. They finished the spring season 2–4–3 and 2–3–1 in ACC play, to finish in third place in the Coastal Division. They were not invited to the NCAA Tournament.

## Player movement
### Players leaving

Departures :
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure |
| Michael Reis | 0 | GK | 6'2" | 180 | Senior | Claremont, CA | Graduated |
| Will Pulisic | 1 | GK | 6'1" | 180 | Senior | Mechanicsville, VA | Graduated |
| Stephen O'Connell | 2 | DF | 5'11" | 170 | Senior | Rye, NY | Graduated |
| Matthias Frick | 3 | DF | 6'2" | 195 | Senior | Feldkirch, Austria | Graduated |
| Daniel Wright | 7 | FW | 5'10" | 140 | Senior | Wixom, MI | Graduated |
| Jack Doran | 8 | MF | 5'11" | 180 | Graduate Student | West Roxbury, MA | Graduated |
| Kristófer Garðarsson | 10 | MF | 6'1" | 175 | Senior | Akranes, Iceland | Graduated |
| Micolas Macri | 11 | FW | 6'1" | 175 | Senior | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Graduated |
| Kees Heetderks | 16 | DF | 5'10" | 170 | Sophomore | Chapel Hill, NC | — |
| Sintayehu Clements | 19 | DF/FW | 6'1" | 180 | Freshman | Seattle, WA | — |
| Adrian Vela | 20 | DF | 6'0" | 170 | Senior | Richmond, TX | Graduated |
| Alex Slover | 24 | MF | 5'11" | 170 | Sophomore | Westhampton, NY | — |
| Matthew Wolf | 30 | GK | 6'1" | 205 | Freshman | Chapel Hill, NC | — |

### Players arriving

Duke signed seven players during the 2021 recruiting period.
| Name | Nat. | Hometown | Club | TDS Rating |
| Felix Barajas FW | USA | Los Angeles, CA | LA Galaxy (Academy) | |
| Jai Bean FW | BER | Bermuda | Black Rock FC | |
| Sebastian Docters DF | USA | Larchmont, NY | New York SC Academy | |
| Grant Farley GK | USA | Baltimore, MD | Baltimore Armour | |
| Ruben Mesalles MF | USA | Longboat, FL | IMG Academy | |
| Shakur Mohammed MF | GHA | Kumasi, Ghana | Black Rock FC | |
| Mateo Cornejo MF | USA | Cary, NC | North Carolina | N/A |

## Squad
### Roster

    As of February 9, 2022
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 |
| 1 | GK | USA | Eliot Hamill |
| 2 | MF | USA | Mateo Cornejo |
| 4 | DF | NIR | Lewis McGarvey |
| 5 | MF | USA | Antino Lopez |
| 6 | MF | USA | Cameron Kerr |
| 7 | FW | ISL | Thorleifur Úlfarsson |
| 8 | MF | USA | Peter Stroud |
| 9 | FW | USA | Scotty Taylor |
| 10 | MF | USA | Nick Pariano |
| 11 | FW | BER | Jai Bean |
| 12 | MF | USA | Ruben Mesalles |
| 13 | DF | USA | Ian Murphy |
| 14 | MF | GHA | Shakur Mohammed |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 15 | FW | USA | Krew Verratti |
| 16 | MF | USA | Luke Thomas |
| 17 | MF | JPN | Santa Ihara |
| 19 | MF | USA | Felix Barajas |
| 20 | MF | USA | Carl Fisher |
| 21 | MF | USA | Daniel Aguilar |
| 22 | MF | USA | Conor Kelly |
| 23 | GK | USA | JT Harms |
| 24 | MF | USA | Carter Cribbs |
| 25 | FW | USA | Miguel Ramirez |
| 26 | DF | USA | Amir Daley |
| 28 | MF | USA | Sebastian Docters |
| 29 | DF | USA | Nate Mulvaney |

### Team management

| Position | Staff |
| Athletic Director | Kevin White |
| Head coach | John Kerr |
| Associate head coach | Michael Brady |
| Assistant Coach | Kyle Renfro |
| Volunteer Assistant Coach | Tristan Wierbonski |
Source:

## Schedule

Source:
| Date Time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (Attendance) City, State |
| Exhibition ||||||
| August 12* 7:00 p.m. | | at No. 25 Coastal Carolina | T 1–1 | — | CCU Soccer Field Conway, SC |
| August 14* 7:00 p.m. | | at UNC Wilmington | W 4–2 | — | UNCW Soccer Stadium (701) Wilmington, NC |
| August 17* 7:00 p.m. | | at No. 24 High Point | W 2–0 | — | Vert Stadium (265) High Point, NC |
| August 21* 11:00 a.m. | | NC State | L 1–3 | — | Koskinen Stadium Durham, NC |
| Regular season ||||||
| August 27* 7:30 p.m., ACCNX | | Liberty | W 3–0 | 1–0–0 | Koskinen Stadium (851) Durham, NC |
| August 29* 2:30 p.m., ACCNX | | Merrimack | W 4–0 | 2–0–0 | Koskinen Stadium (262) Durham, NC |
| September 2* 7:00 p.m., BTN+ | No. 24 | at Michigan | W 1–0 | 3–0–0 | U-M Soccer Stadium (0) Ann Arbor, MI |
| September 6* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 24 | Seattle | L 0–1 $^{2OT}$ | 3–1–0 | Koskinen Stadium (503) Durham, NC |
| September 11 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 19 | No. 6 Virginia Tech | W 1–0 | 4–1–0 (1–0–0) | Koskinen Stadium (863) Durham, NC |
| September 19 7:00 p.m., ACCN | No. 12 | at No. 16 North Carolina Rivalry | W 3–0 | 5–1–0 (2–0–0) | Dorrance Field (2,310) Chapel Hill, NC |
| September 25 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 6 | at Syracuse | W 1–0 | 6–1–0 (3–0–0) | SU Soccer Stadium (1,879) Syracuse, NY |
| September 28* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 4 | Howard | W 4–0 | 7–1–0 | Koskinen Stadium (739) Durham, NC |
| October 1 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 4 | No. 14 Louisville | W 3–1 | 8–1–0 (4–0–0) | Koskinen Stadium (1,017) Durham, NC |
| October 5* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 3 | Elon | W 3–1 | 9–1–0 | Koskinen Stadium (520) Durham, NC |
| October 9 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 3 | at No. 13 Pittsburgh | L 2–3 | 9–2–0 (4–1–0) | Ambrose Urbanic Field (1,409) Pittsburgh, PA |
| October 15 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 9 | No. 23 Clemson | L 2–3 $^{OT}$ | 9–3–0 (4–2–0) | Koskinen Stadium (1,204) Durham, NC |
| October 19* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+ | No. 18 | at Furman | W 3–2 | 10–3–0 | Stone Stadium (538) Greenville, SC |
| October 22 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 18 | at No. 20 Notre Dame | T 1–1 $^{2OT}$ | 10–3–1 (4–2–1) | Alumni Stadium (1,037) Notre Dame, IN |
| October 29 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | No. 13 | Virginia | W 3–2 | 11–3–1 (5–2–1) | Koskinen Stadium (1,117) Durham, NC |
| ACC Tournament ||||||
| November 7 2:00 pm, ACCN | (3) No. 13 | (6) Wake Forest Quarterfinal | W 3–2 | 12–3–1 | Koskinen Stadium (1,062) Durham, NC |
| November 10 7:00 pm, ACCN | (3) No. 11 | at (2) No. 9 Clemson Semifinal | W 1–0 | 13–3–1 | Riggs Field (3,237) Clemson, SC |
| November 14 2:00 pm, ESPNU | (3) No. 11 | vs. (5) No. 20 Notre Dame Final | L 0–2 | 13–4–1 | WakeMed Soccer Park (2,737) Cary, NC |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| November 21 1:00 p.m., ACCNX | (7) No. 11 | No. 22 UCLA Second Round | W 2–1 | 14–4–1 | Koskinen Stadium (626) Durham, NC |
| November 27 7:00 p.m., ACCNX | (7) No. 11 | (10) No. 8 Saint Louis Third Round | L 3–4 | 14–5–1 | Koskinen Stadium (714) 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 |
| Peter Stroud | Preseason All-ACC Watchlist | August 18 |
| Eliot Hamill | ACC Defensive Player of the Week | September 7 |
| Eliot Hamill | ACC Defensive Player of the Week | September 21 |
| Eliot Hamill | ACC Defensive Player of the Week | September 28 |
| Thorleifur Úlfarsson | ACC Offensive Player of the Week | October 5 |
| Thorleifur Úlfarsson | ACC Offensive Player of the Year | November 10 |
| Peter Stroud | ACC Midfielder of the Year | November 10 |
| Shakur Mohammed | ACC Freshman of the Year | November 10 |
| Thorleifur Úlfarsson | All-ACC First Team | November 10 |
| Shakur Mohammed | All-ACC Second Team | November 10 |
| Ruben Mesalles | ACC All-Freshamn Team | November 10 |
| Shakur Mohammed | ACC All-Freshamn Team | November 10 |
| Shakur Mohammed | ACC All-Tournament Team | November 15 |
| Peter Stroud | ACC All-Tournament Team | November 15 |
| Thorleifur Úlfarsson | ACC All-Tournament Team | November 15 |

## 2022 MLS Super Draft

| Player | Team | Round | Pick # | Position |
| Thorleifur Úlfarsson | Houston Dynamo | 1 | 4 | FW |
| Ian Murphy | FC Cincinnati | 1 | 14 | DF |
Source:

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Final |
| United Soccer | — | 24 | 19 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 13 | 13 | 11 | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 12 |
| TopDrawer Soccer | — | — | — | 18 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 |