Defenders on the women's soccer team bear the motto 'Pride in Zeros' as tattoos on their forearms to bring together a unit that has put together 10 shutouts this season.
Before each Duke game, the Blue Devil defenders hold out their arms as centerback Carolyn Ford wields a permanent marker. The team’s co-captain ritually tattoos each of the other defenders’ forearm and then is marked herself.
Defenders bear the motto “Pride in Zeros” on their inner forearms to unify the defense. It’s not about bragging or even intimidation—the defensive pride is legitimate. The unit, which includes Ford, Kate Seibert, Rachel-Rose Cohen and Heidi Hollenbeck, has recorded 10 shutouts, leading the ACC.
“It’s kind of a just a bond we have that we want to be proud of the zero we put on the board,” Seibert said. “That’s the most special thing you can do, is come out of a game and know you haven’t let the other team get a goal.”
Before Duke even earned its first shutout, the Blue Devil defensive squad wrote the phrase on their hands. As the team posted each zero and racked up wins, they added a letter to the phrase, and later transferred the tattoo to their forearms.
“As a defender you do take a lot of pride in helping the goalie get shutouts because that’s like your ultimate goal in the game, to not get scored on,” said assistant coach Carla Overbeck, who works extensively with the backfield. “As a defensive unit, that’s what they collectively have, that pride in zeros.”
The cohesiveness displayed by the defense’s uniform inscriptions is also evident in its game dynamics. The Blue Devils boast a nearly seamless back line that reacts quickly and moves as one.
Because of the strong defense played by even its midfielders and forwards, the Blue Devils’ opponents have mustered fewer than three shots per game on goal.
“Defense isn’t just our back line,” said Hollenbeck, a junior. “It starts from the forward line and comes back through the midfield.”
Duke’s attack-minded players work to contain the action in the opposing defensive third, winning the 50-50 balls and preventing clears and counterattacks.
“There’s no way we could get zeros unless everyone on the field was defending as hard as they could,” Ford said.
The back four serve as a final defensive measure to terminate any opposition that breaks through the midfield line. The team often successfully slows its opponent’s attack, getting a foot on the ball to disrupt a forward’s rhythm and pushing the play to the outside.
“What you try to do as a coach is you try to get the defense to play as one unit,” Overbeck said. “You want equal distance between the four of them. You want them to solve your breakdowns as quickly and simply as possible.
“They’re the last line of defense right in front of the goalkeeper, so it’s imperative that they work together and they communicate—that’s the key to defense. And so far this year I think they’ve been doing a great job.”
Although all defenders partake in the tradition, Ford, Seibert, Hollenbeck and Cohen combine to create Duke’s defensive core in front of goalkeepers Allison Lipsher and Kate Straka.
Ford is not only the leader with then pen, as she also directs the defense on the field.
“As a defender you want to try to read the breakdown early, and organize your team sort of like a puzzle in front of you to prevent those breakdowns,” Overbeck said of Ford. “She’s a force back there, she talks.”
Shutouts have become the norm instead of the anomaly. The four’s efforts aided the team in maintaining a seven-game shutout streak earlier this season.
“We were shocked,” Seibert said. “It was almost surprising when they wrote up how many shutouts we had—it was crazy.”
As the season’s end draws closer, the defense continues to strive for shutouts.
“It’s a part of our entire team,” said Cohen. “We just write it on our arms.”
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