The MLS SuperDraft is currently being held live in Kansas City and is being televised on ESPN2.

The first pick of the draft went to the expansion Montreal Impact and they selected Duke‘s Andrew Wenger.

http://youtu.be/zCbydh8K6ys

Wenger is the first ever Duke player to be selected number one overall. There were three other players selected within the top five in the program’s history: Brian Kelly (1997), Jay Heaps (1999), and Ali Curtis (2001).

It has been a BIG year for Wenger, who moved from defense to offense in 2011 to lead the ACC in goals (17) and points overall (42). He started every game over his three-year career at Duke. This season, he was named the ACC’s Offensive Player of the Year, after earning ACC Rookie of the Year in 2009 and ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010.

He was also selected to train with the U-23 USA soccer team that is competing for Olympic qualifying.

Wenger was honored as the Hermann Trophy winner, an award given to the top collegiate soccer player. He is the fourth Blue Devil in history to earn the prestigious award.

It wasn’t just his work on the soccer field that was honored this year. Wenger became the second Blue Devil in the soccer program’s history to earn CoSIDA Academic First Team honors, while also earning spots on the All-ACC Academic Team and ACC Honor Roll in his three seasons at Duke. He was also named to the NSCAA Collegiate Scholar All-America first team (he was one of four juniors honored).

Wenger signed a contract with Generation adidas, thus forgoing his senior season. This led to his eligibility for the MLS Draft.

It all unfolded today, as Wenger was selected Number 1 and the first draft pick in Montreal’s history. Because he is a Generation adidas player, his salary does not count towards the team’s salary cap.

The Impact begin their inaugural season on March 10th in Vancouver.

The fall sports season has officially come to an end at Duke. Basketball season has fully heated up, with conference play set to begin in less than month.

Let’s take a look back at what the Fall of 2011 was all about:

Women’s Soccer

It was a great season for the Duke women’s soccer team that just fell short of their expectations, a 1-0 loss to undefeated Stanford in the College Cup final (their first trip since 1992). The team finished the season 22-4-1. They won the ACC regular season title for just the second time in school history. The Blue Devils beat nine ranked opponents. Head coach Robbie Church was named the Southeast Region Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Duke had a record six players to earn All-ACC honors.

Natasha Anasi, a sophomore defender, is one of 15 semifinalists for the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy, the most prestigious award given out in collegiate soccer (the first in Duke history). She was named the ACC’s top defender, as she started all 27 matches this season. Anasi was one of the six Duke All-ACC players. She was second on the team in minutes played and helped the team reach school records in shutouts (16), wins (22), and conference wins (8). She was also named to the first-team All-America team.

Kaitlyn Kerr also earned All-America honors (third-team). She was also an All-ACC selection and was named to the College Cup All-Tournament Team. In just two years, she has become the Blue Devils all-time leading scorer in NCAA Tournament games with six (she scored five this season). In her breakout season, Kerr recorded 11 goals, five assists, and 27 points in the midfield.

Both Anasi and Kerr were joined on the All-Southeast Region team by Tara Campbell and Kelly Cobb, who earned second-team honors. Campbell, the junior goalie, recorded a school record 14 shutouts while being named to the All-ACC second-team. Cobb, a freshman, scored 11 goals, had nine assists, and 31 points. Her goals and points were a Duke freshmen record. She also had six game-winning goals.

» Continue reading “Duke Fall Sports Recap”

As you all know by now (unless you have been living under a rock), Coach K tied Bob Knight for tops all-time in wins with 902. Number 902 came last night with Duke’s 96-55 win over Presbyterian at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Next up for the men’s basketball team is Michigan State at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.You can find pictures from the game at Duke Blue Planet.

Now onto non-basketball news…

The Duke men’s soccer team lost on Friday to Boston College, 2-1 in the ACC Semifinals. Next up for the men is the NCAA Tournament announcement, which will come on November 14th via NCAA.com.

Andrew Wenger of the men’s soccer team was named the ACC’s Offensive Player of the Year, while also being named to the ACC first team. He is the first player in the ACC to garner three major awards, as he earned ACC Freshman of the Year in 2009 and ACC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010. Wenger had an ACC-best 17 goals this season and 42 points. He is third in assists with eight.

Wenger was joined on the first team with teammate James Belshaw (goal keeper). Sebastian Ibeagha and Nick Palodichuk were named to the second team. Palodichuk and Andrew Morales were named to the All-Freshman Team. For more on these players, click HERE.

The women’s soccer team is facing Radford today in the NCAA Tournament in Durham. You can follow the action on GoDuke.com’s live blog. Game time is 2pm ET. The women’s soccer team earned a number one seed and are ranked third in the country.

The Duke field hockey team shut out Stanford, 5-0 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They continue on to the second round against ODU today at 2pm ET. ODU is the two seed, while Duke is sixth. There will also be a live blog for the field hockey game. It will be the third time this season that Duke and ODU have met, with the previous two games reaching overtime. The two teams split the two games.