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GAME NOTES

BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech men's soccer team will head to North Carolina Friday night to take on the Duke Blue Devils as they battle for a spot in the 2015 ACC men's soccer championship.

The Hokies are competing with Louisville and North Carolina State for spots in the ACC Tournament that will be held at host sites beginning on Nov. 4 for the first round. The entire tournament will be played at campus sites at the home field of the highest remaining seed.

The Hokies dropped a game on Tuesday night to the visiting Belmont Bruins, 2-1. Tech was missing a handful of players due to injuries as well as a yellow card accumulation.

Desipite dealing with several key injuries during the season, the Hokies have been able to limit opponents offensively as only two teams have been able to score more than two goals and 10 opponents have scored one goal or less.

Offensively, the Hokies are ranked T-61st in the country in shots on goal per game at 5.75. Goalkeeper Ben Lundgaard leads the conference in saves per game at 3.75.

Merlin Baus 68th in assists per game at 0.36, respectively. He has a team-high five goals and five assists. He has a team-high total of 15 points in 14 games. Ricardo John who is 29th in the country in shots on goal per game at 1.63 and 53rd in the nation in shots per game (3.06) as he leads the team with 49 shot attempts.

The Hokies currently are ranked 71st in the NCAA RPI Rankings. The ACC overall has 10 of its 12 teams in the top 30.

Opponent History...

The Hokies and Blue Devils will be playing for the 17th time when they meet on Friday night. Duke holds a 10-2-4 advantage in the series that dates back to 1974. The teams played last season in Blacksburg, where Duke won 2-0 on Oct. 31. The two teams have met every year as Coastal Division opponents since Tech joined the ACC in 2004.

About Duke...

The Blue Devils are riding a four-game winning streak coming into the game with the Hokies. They have beaten N.C. State, Elon, Pittsburgh and Jacksonville by a combined score of 10-3.

This will mark the fifth home game in their last six games overall. Duke is 1-1-1 in ACC play at home this season and hold an 8-3-1 record overall at home in 2015.

Duke is lead offensively by Zach Mathers who has a team-high seven goals and six assists for a total of 20 points. Jeremy Ebobisse and Brian White each have netted six goals on the season with Ebobisse also tied for second on the team in assists with four.

Duke is one of the better offenses in the country as they rank 25th nationally in assists per game, 22nd in points per game, 20th in scoring offense and 11th in shots on goal per game.

The Blue Devils have played three different goalies on the season and two of them have started at least seven games. Wilson Fisher started 10 games but Mitch Kupstas has been the main goalkeeper as of late. Kupstas has a 5-2 record with 15 saves, a .600 save percentage and a 1.29 goals against average.

For updates on Virginia Tech men's soccer, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_MSoccer