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The heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida is having a major impact on the ACC Men's Soccer Tournament in Cary.
With the WakeMed Soccer Park soaked, ACC officials met with coaches Wednesday morning to discuss changing the tournament.
They decided to keep playing.
Anyone who wandered around the soccer pitch Wednesday, though, could tell immediately it was flat-out nasty.
"It's going to be soccer in the British sense of the word," said Duke Head Coach John Kerr with a laugh. "The weather's going to be treacherous for the fans and the coaching staff -- but it'll be fine for the players."
About the only thing going for any of the teams out there is that the other guys have it just as bad.
The ACC decided to keep the tournament going, but changed the schedule so that two games would go on side by side simultaneously, and people could get out of the elements quickly.
Players' parents were about the only ones who turned out to watch.
"We kept expecting a text or call from my son saying the game's been cancelled," said Terry Finley, who drove down from New Jersey to watch his son play for the Blue Devils. "I guess the weather's going to be tough tomorrow too, so I'm glad they got a chance to get it in."
For the most part, everyone was raving about how the turf was still in good condition; referees were wary about how the weather would affect the style of play, though.
"We'll see as the game goes on. We'll talk to the players," said Tony Russo. "I may end up having to call some things tighter today, just to make sure that we end up with 22 players on the field at the end of the day."
As of now, the tournament is scheduled to continue as planned, with semifinal games on Friday and the conference title on the line Sunday.
Duke lost a close one in Wednesday's quarterfinal; they're out of the tournament after a 1-0 overtime win by Boston College.
UNC and NC State are battling it out, and so far have played to a 0-0 tie through regulation, and are currently going into overtime.
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Keep up with the stories Chris Cowperthwaite is working on every day: http://twitter.com/CCowperthwaite.

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