DURHAM, N.C. – Following the team's First Round defeat of UC Davis in the NCAA Tournament, the San Diego men's soccer team (14-2-2, 7-1 WCC) are on the east coast for their Second Round match up against the Duke Blue Devils (11-3-4, 4-1-3 ACC) on Sunday, November 23 for a 10:00 a.m. PST kickoff. 

This will be the second time the two squads have faced off this season, as San Diego and Duke drew at Torero Stadium to begin the season back in August. 

LAST TIME OUT

• San Diego is coming off an impressive First Round home victory over UC Davis by a 1-0 margin at Torero Stadium.
• Coming off the bench for the first time this season, Cesar Bahena provided an immediate impact as he scored an impressive goal from distance in the 36th minute of the match. 
• Starting in goal for USD, Donovan Parisian earned his seventh clean sheet of the year and picked up three highly impressive saves in the victory. 

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS 

• Duke had a strong season throughout and finished the season ranked 10th overall in the nation as they earned a First Round bye in the tournament. 
• Playing in the highly competitive ACC, the Blue Devils lost just one conference match and earned victories over Grand Canyon, Virginia, NC State, Virginia Tech twice and Notre Dame.
• In the team's most recent match, Duke fell to California in the second round of the ACC Tournament at home by a 2-0 final score on November 10. 
• In the season opener at San Diego, Ulfur Bjornsson and Jose Ortega each scored second half goals for the Blue Devils in the two-all draw. Bjornsson has been stellar for his team all season as he led Duke in both goals and points this season. 
• In goal, the Blue Devils are expected to start Wessel Speel who has appeared in every game for his team and recorded seven consecutive clean sheets from Mid-October through early November. 
• Duke enters Sunday's second round match up leading the nation in goal differential at +38 on the season. 

FINAL NOTES

• San Diego enters this week still unbeaten outside of San Diego as both of their losses came at Torero Stadium this season. 
• USD's offense features a pair of elite closers as both Samy Kanaan and Cesar Bahena are among the national leaders in game winning goals, with Kanaan's five and Bahena contributing four of his own. 
• Playing some of his best game of the season, Parisian has recorded a shutout in five of his last six games for a .750 save percentage on the season. 
• The Toreros have yet to trail at halftime in any match this season, and are 8-0-1 when leading at the break. 
• Four San Diego student-athletes were All-WCC First Team Selections: Cesar Bahena, Samy Kanaan, Donovan Parisian and Ethan Warne. Jack Sandmeyer was also named to the All-WCC Second Team. 
• After making the All-Freshman team last season, both Steven Ramirez and Oliver Rhoades were picked as All-WCC Honorable Mentions.
• Excelling in their first collegiate seasons, both Mathias Bauer and Luca Fava were picked to the All-WCC Freshman Team to wrap up USD's 2024 conference awards.  
• Working hard in the classroom as well, Vicente Ayala and Josh Martinez were picked to the All-WCC Academic Team on Friday morning. 

To stay up to date with Toreros men's soccer, follow the team on Instagram & Twitter by searching "USDmsoccer".