DURHAM, N.C. - All six fall sports teams met with the media on Friday as the fall season gets underway.
Men's Cross Country (Head Coach Norm Ogilvie, junior Bo Waggoner, senior James Osborne, junior Cory Nanni)
Head coach Norm Ogilvie, who is entering his 10th year as head coach of the cross country team, has done less coaching with this group and instead is putting more pressure on his squad because they are capable of doing big things this season.
Ogilvie said his 2009 team has the potential to be the best team he has coached at duke, which is driven by a veteran squad and strong senior leadership.
"We have a bunch of seniors that are going to provide some really good leadership for us," Ogilvie said. "I think the fact that these seniors haven't been to the NCAA meet is going to further motivate them to make sure this group gets it done and they are very capable of doing it."
The depth of this year's squad is probably its greatest strength. Duke returns their top 10 guys from last season, and are also brining in an outstanding freshman class to learn and compete with the returning runners.
"We have three outstanding freshmen this year who are at least as good as any class that we have had," Ogilvie said. "So the potential and leadership is there, we just have to keep people healthy. So we are very excited."
Last season the team peaked almost at the perfect time, and no one more so that Bo Waggoner who finished 11th in the NCAA Southeast Regional and 135th at the NCAA Championships.
The junior has his sights set on greater accomplishments this season.
"I definitely want to shoot for the top," Waggoner said. "We all want to improve from last year. I think I could be one of the top guys in the ACC. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of Duke guys ahead of me this year because we have some guys that can do it."
Junior Cory Nanni also has his big goals for the season. Nanni is capable of running a four minute mile during track season and will use the cross country season to help prepare to accomplish that feat.
Volleyball (Head Coach Jolene Nagel, senior Rachael Moss, junior Becci Burling, junior Claire Smalzer)
Ranked as the preseason No. 1 team in the ACC, head coach Jolene Nagel made sure to make her schedule one of the toughest in the country with the highlight being the top-ranked team in the country, Penn State, visiting Durham in early September.
"I would say we always have a target on our back and from my experience it's always been there regardless of our ranking and we are always prepared for people to play their best against us," Rachael Moss said.
The challenging schedule will help Nagel develop her entire roster.
"I feel like playing against the very best will prepare us not only to really understand our team come ACC season, but also to give us a good feel of what we need to do to continue to be successful in the ACC and in the postseason as well," Nagel said. We are really excited to get going and I know the team is excited to play someone other than themselves at this point, but that will come soon enough, a week from today."
Getting over the hump will start with taking on better opponents from different conferences across the country as Duke attempts to establish itself as one of the best teams in country.
The players relish the opportunity to take the top teams in the country.
"We're playing a lot of great teams and taking advantage of those out of conference games is going to be huge for us to grow as a team and its unfortunate that happens at the beginning of the season, but it also can be a huge step for us as a team," Burling said.
Helping them take that step will be a talented freshman class that brings size, chemistry and hard work to the team.
"We are a little bit bigger, which is exciting, and then our defensive specialist have really proven to bring a lot of competitiveness to our practices and make it a lot harder on our offense as we practice," Nagel said. "I think they are going to do some great things for us too, so we are excited about that freshman class coming in."
Women's Cross Country (Head Coach Kevin Jermyn, sophomore Carly Seymour)
The talent exists on this year's women's cross country team that will rival most teams nationally in the country. A balanced training approach and a talented freshman class are reasons for optimism for the 2009 season.
"We are taking a different focus on the season," head coach Kevin Jermyn said. "We are going to go with a high level of competition in the first week of October in Wisconsin where we are going to race the top 15 out of the top 30 teams in the country. In past years we have taking a little bit more time to focus on November and ease our way into the season, since last we came up short on some of our goals for the season we wanted to really challenge our team a little bit earlier."
The freshman class is so talented that they will be looked upon to make an immediate impact.
"I've already met with our upper classmen and encouraged them to be excited for the challenge that we are bringing in some freshmen that can really have an impact on the team," Jermyn said. "We want and need everybody to challenge each other the way we are going to be challenged when we race some of the best teams in the country in the ACC and the National Championships."
Carly Seymour, a standout freshman from a year ago, now must deal with greater expectations as a sophomore and said that her transition from high school to college was a challenge.
She needed to adjust to a new setting as well as running in a group of talented girls instead of leading the pact like she did in high school.
"I'm very excited this year to have some freshman come in to receive some more challenging to push me a little bit harder," Seymour said. "When I was in high school my team was small so, I was running by myself a lot. To be running with a pack of girls who are all very talented and pushing you every practice, it's kind of intimidating at first. So it takes a little adjusting but it's better for you in the long run."
Field Hockey (Head Coach Beth Bozman, senior Lauren Miller, senior Amie Survilla, junior Sarah Schoffstall)
After a week of practice things are going well for the Duke field hockey team as they take the news that they were ranked to finish last in the ACC as motivation to prove the critics wrong.
"Well actually when I saw it yesterday I was mad and then I called Lauren and told her and she immediately got mad too so we were talking about it yesterday and it's better to start at the bottom because now we actually have something to work towards," Amie Survilla said. "Being number one there is a lot of pressure and you're expected to perform at your highest level all the time so I would rather come in at that bottom and have something to work for and surprising people, so it's going to be a fun season."
The team had their first scrimmage last night against North Carolina.
"We scrimmaged UNC last night and lost to them 0-1, they have had a couple of scrimmages under their belt already and this was our first full field game," head coach Beth Bozman said. "They (UNC) have the luxury with having lots and lots of people on their roster and we've got 18 on ours so it was an even game, even shots, even statistics and we sort of dominated the second half and I was really pleased with our play."
The team has three captains, two seniors, Lauren Miller and Survilla, and a junior, Sarah Schoffstall, which will provide leadership to a young but talented team.
"We'll be looking to our two seniors for leadership," Bozman said. "Amie is an attack player and Lauren who picked to the preseason All-ACC team and Sarah Schoffstall is our other captain and from the very beginning we've been talking about leadership throughout the team. That team strength comes from sharing leadership and sharing responsibility, so we have spent a lot of time talking about that."
How quickly the five upperclassmen can bring along a talented freshman class will be crucial for the Blue Devil going forward this season.
"You really feel the impact as the five of us upper classmen, you feel the impact of how much the younger girls are looking up to you and you really take accountability for that and you have pride in what you have been through in the last two or three years," Schoffstall said.
Lauren Miller, who represents Duke on the All-ACC Preseason team, said working with younger players is a different dynamic, but it's a good thing because everyone is learning together.
Lauren - working with young players is a different dynamic
Men's Soccer (Head Coach John Kerr, junior Christian Ibeagha, senior Josh Bienenfeld, junior Nick Tsipis)
Tonight the men's soccer team will get their first taste of live action against an opponent other than themselves when they host Virginia Commonwealth in an exhibition game.
The squad, under second year head coach John Kerr, has sad seven straight days of practice and said that the team has had fantastic leadership, a better work ethic and that they are ahead of where they were at this time a year ago.
"The morale is high and we are basically more or less injury free given 1 or 2 guys but we are very excited about this evening's game," Kerr said.
"Over the past year we have dramatically improved our attitude and approach on Duke Soccer in general," Kerr added. "Instead of taking it for granted, we cherish every moment together and we know and understand that it is a privilege to be on the team and apart of this program. Therefore everyone is earning their spot every day, and we are building foundations and principals we want to live by each day and each week we are together."
Kerr named senior Josh Bienenfeld, junior Christian Ibeagha and junior Nick Tsipis captains for the 2009 season. Their leadership will be crucial for a team that could potentially have two or three players in the starting lineup to start the regular season.
To help build some experience for the young players, Kerr scheduled three exhibitions contests to gain a better feel for his personnel.
Another motivating tool is the ACC preseason poll, which has the Blue Devils finishing 7th in the ACC.
"I think it motivate us. Certainly we feel we have the ability and the potential to really prove ourselves with in the conference and out of the conference and I think it really motivates us for the upcoming season," Bienenfeld said. "We are excited to prove our ability that we are better when we play to our potential."
All of this is just making this year's squad a harder working team.
"Last year's group had so much experience and they were very talented from top to bottom," Tsipis said. "It's hard to replace the talent a leadership that those guys provided, but this is a new team and a new year. We feel that the three of us as captains are all on the same page. We support the coaches and the plan that they have for us and the mission that they have for our team and the identity we want to have as a Duke Soccer program."
Women's Soccer (Head Coach Robbie Church, senior Jane Alukonis, senior KayAnne Gummersall, senior Elisabeth Redmond)
The women's soccer team kicks off their season Sunday with their home opener against Gardner-Webb, though the team has already defeated one opponent this year traveling to Tennessee for an exhibition match and leaving with a 5-2 win.
Despite dealing with nine preseason injuries, five of which are season ending, head coach Robbie Church said that he has seen the strongest leadership out of his veterans since he has been at Duke.
"It's been a different preseason as a lot of you know we have had a ton of injuries pile up, but besides that we have been extremely, extremely impressed with what our young ladies have done and what we have accomplished over the two weeks," Church said. "Last weekend we went to Knoxville and played the University of Tennessee and played extremely well and were fortunate to win the game 5-2."
The goalkeeping battle between sophomore Emily Nahas and freshman Tara Campbell has been one of the most exciting aspects of camp so far, with figuring out who will make up the Duke back line being the second.
The experience on this team exists in the front line and midfield. Senior captains KayAnne Gummersall and Elisabeth Redmond will handle the majority of the offensive pressures, while senior captain Jane Alukonis will lead the midfield group.
"I think our offensive is strong and with KayAnne up there we'll do our best to score, but I think as a unit our strength will probably come from experience in those areas so we have to take advantage of that," Redmond said.
The ACC will once again be arguably the best conference for women's soccer in the country and the Blue Devils have helped to prove that the last two seasons by advancing to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.
"Basically we expect a lot from ourselves, definitely the three of us and Coach Robbie that if we achieve anything less than that this year will be a disappointment," Alukonis said. "We also know that from experience the past two years that we have gotten to those games and we have gotten so close to the final four and have not performed to the ability that we are capable of we have been disappointed, but both the times we played in the elite eight games in order to make it to the final four."
