Can anyone shed any light on what to expect on Friday when Duke meets up with UCSB? Any insights into this matchup? I'm not very familiar with the west coast teams, so any info on UCSB would be great. It sounds like they're a very physical team... are they big too? What are going to be the keys to victory for each team? Duke is definitely peaking right now and looked great against UVA, but it sounds like UCSB is playing great as well. I'll be interested to see how Duke's young team handles a game of this magnitude. They've been great at stepping up for big games thus far this season (with the acception of the ACC tourney).
LOOOOOONG and UGLY!!! This game will be a game with ZERO midfield play. Fouls will be up in the 40-50's combined and UCSB will have at least 4 yellow cards and 1 red. A true Enlish rock'em sock'em restart game. UGLY!!!
Having seen Duke play once this year, I can report that they are not afraid to foul, either. It should be brutal.
Really? I've seen pretty much every Duke home match and never saw any huge tendency to play long ball, especialy later this season. Foul? Yes. Hoof and run? Not really.
I think a lot of conclusions are drawn from 'information' gathered on Big Soccer, as opposed to actually having seen a team play. Seriously...how many people have actually seen both Duke and UCSB play this year?
UCSB 10 Duke Nil. As the ACC teams have no defense and the gauchos physically stomp them into the ground. GO HOOSIERS, Bring back #7
Haven't seen either, but will be heading over to the HDC to watch the games tonight and Sunday. I hope the CA team prevails tonight as well as Indiana. That would make for a good final and there would be plenty more UCSB fans there.
A perfect post, very well said. It seems that the prevailing attitude on the College/Amateur board is to form opinions based on other posts without any solid information based on first-hand observations. Of course, it's a bit difficult to travel the country watching college soccer for a living . . . But my point is that if you've not seen a team play AT LEAST once, then shut yer yap and don't post as if you're a fan of the team and you've watched every home game they've played. We need more posters on here that can supply facts. So, HAS anyone seen BOTH UCSB and Duke this year?
Before tonights game 117 people in the USA have seen both teams. After tonight's match that number will leap to 14,763...
Well they did play one another last year in the Duke Adidas Classic with UCSB coming away with a 2-1 win. That was last year however as the makeup of both teams seem to be different, especially Duke's squad. Gettin goosebumps on my ass just thinkin bout the game. Good luck to both squads.
Big Bonnie I guess I was wrong about playing a soft schedule. The young Duke Lads did not miss a beat with the tough end of their schedule and has kicked ass in the tourney. IU just scored with a minute left Go Duke....you are the ACC now
Duke is in trouble already. They get awfully discouraged when they're playing with a deficit. Hopefully they can shake it off an get an equalizer quickly.
I've started a new thread for the commentary during and after the game: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=155918
Doesn't matter, they got that ass handed to em. I guess it's something to build on for next year. That should leave a sour taste in their mouth and something to work hard for in the offseason. Definitely a top 5 team come next season.