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.

2021 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer
NCAA Tournament, Third Round
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
U. Soc. Coaches poll	No. 12
TopDrawerSoccer.com	No. 12
Record	14–5–1 (5–2–1 ACC)
Head coach	John Kerr (14th season)
Assistant coaches	Michael Brady (14th season) Kyle Renfro (2nd season)
Home stadium	Koskinen Stadium
Seasons ← 2020 2022 →

2021 ACC men's soccer standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Atlantic
No. 1 Clemson +	5	–	3	–	0			16	–	5	–	2
Louisville +	5	–	3	–	0			10	–	7	–	1
No. 17 Wake Forest +	4	–	3	–	1			13	–	7	–	1
Boston College	2	–	4	–	2			6	–	7	–	2
Syracuse	2	–	5	–	1			8	–	8	–	2
NC State	1	–	5	–	2			7	–	8	–	2
Coastal
No. 12 Duke +	5	–	2	–	1			14	–	5	–	1
No. 6 Pittsburgh +	5	–	2	–	1			13	–	5	–	2
No. 4 Notre Dame ‡	4	–	2	–	2			14	–	5	–	5
North Carolina +	4	–	4	–	0			11	–	7	–	2
No. 19 Virginia Tech +	3	–	4	–	1			11	–	5	–	4
Virginia	2	–	5	–	1			6	–	9	–	3
‡ – ACC Tournament champion + – Also invited to the 2021 NCAA tournament As of December 14, 2021 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Source: The ACC

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

Main article: 2020 Duke Blue Devils men's soccer team

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.^[1]

Name	Nat.	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Felix Barajas FW	USA	Los Angeles, CA	LA Galaxy (Academy)	[2]
Jai Bean FW	BER	Bermuda	Black Rock FC	[3]
Sebastian Docters DF	USA	Larchmont, NY	New York SC Academy	[4]
Grant Farley GK	USA	Baltimore, MD	Baltimore Armour	[5]
Ruben Mesalles MF	USA	Longboat, FL	IMG Academy	[6]
Shak Mohammed MF	GHA	Kumasi, Ghana	Black Rock FC	[7]
Mateo Cornejo MF	USA	Cary, NC	North Carolina	N/A

Squad

Roster

As of February 9, 2022^[8]

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 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 Shak 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:^[8]

Schedule

Source:^[9][10]

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	Ref.
Peter Stroud	Preseason All-ACC Watchlist	August 18	[11]
Eliot Hamill	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	September 7	[12]
	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	September 21	[13]
	ACC Defensive Player of the Week	September 28	[14]
Thorleifur Úlfarsson	ACC Offensive Player of the Week	October 5	[15]
Thorleifur Úlfarsson	ACC Offensive Player of the Year	November 10	[16]
Peter Stroud	ACC Midfielder of the Year
Shak Mohammed	ACC Freshman of the Year
Thorleifur Úlfarsson	All-ACC First Team
Shak Mohammed	All-ACC Second Team
Ruben Mesalles	ACC All-Freshamn Team
Shak Mohammed
Shak Mohammed	ACC All-Tournament Team	November 15	[17]
Peter Stroud
Thorleifur Úlfarsson

2022 MLS Super Draft

Main article: 2022 MLS SuperDraft

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

Source:^[18]

Rankings

Main article: 2021 NCAA Division I men's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer[19]	—	24	19	12	6	4	3	9	18	13	13	11	Not released				12
TopDrawer Soccer[20]	—	—	—	18	9	8	6	9	13	11	10	10	14	10	12	12	12