Women’s soccer
After an electric regular season, Duke women’s soccer looks to give head coach Robbie Church the most memorable parting gift of all — the Blue Devils’ first-ever ACC title.
Duke had all the pieces for a record-breaking season. “I thought that we had some of our best training in the preseason that I can remember in my 24 years here,” Church said in August. Barring a disappointing loss in the season-opening game against Ohio State, Duke has fulfilled this prophecy.
Since their match against Ohio, the Blue Devils have not dropped a single game, ending the regular season with a 14-1-1 record after tying Notre Dame a few weeks ago. They have also maintained a No. 1 ranking since Oct. 8. The ACC is one of the strongest conferences in the country, with soccer dynasties such as Florida State and North Carolina as well as newly added Stanford and Berkley. All through the fall, the Blue Devils rose to their challenges and came out of the season undefeated in ACC play for only the third time in history, after routing three of those four powerhouses — Duke has yet to face Florida State.
The season owes its success largely to the diversity of age and experience on Duke’s roster. Graduate midfielder Maggie Graham has led the Blue Devil charge alongside North Carolina transfer Mia Oliaro, Harvard transfer Hannah Bebar, fifth-year goalkeeper Leah Freeman and junior Devin Lynch.
After a bye that takes them through the quarterfinals, the Blue Devils open the ACC tournament against North Carolina Thursday at 8 p.m. in Cary's WakeMed Soccer Park. The Tobacco Round showdown comes just seven days after the Halloween thriller where Duke routed the Tar Heels 3-2, defeating them for the second time this season. In the first of these victories, Duke’s win was a surprise — the Tar Heels were ranked No. 2 at the time and North Carolina is known for having a historically strong women’s soccer program. In the second showdown, victory was less elusive — the Blue Devils had toppled the giant before and knew they could do it again. However, Duke must be careful not to let its guard down — there is no fury like a Tar Heel scorned.
The key to a Duke victory lies in the squad remaining cool and collected throughout the entire game. North Carolina often turns the game frenetic in attempts to break Blue Devil defense. Duke has proven its mettle many times in this regard, with a focus on careful shots, planned attacks and excellent team chemistry. Graham anchors the team in this regard — she plays smart, allowing her teammate’s strengths to shine without sidelining Graham’s own talent. At the Halloween game, Graham notched a goal as a result of a picture-perfect crosser from Mia Oliaro.
A third win against the Tar Heels will be as much of a mental battle as it is a physical one, but the Blue Devils have proven this season that they have what it takes to send the Tar Heels home defeated for the final time this season.
In the championship match, Duke would face either No. 3 Wake Forest or No. 6 Florida State. A Demon Deacon victory is likely as they face the Seminoles in the semifinal match. Second-seeded Wake Forest dominated third-seeded Florida State 4-1 earlier in October, and the Demon Deacons enter the game rested with a bye past the quarter finals, while the Seminoles will play four days after a close match with Notre Dame. However, Florida State has been the ACC’s defending champion since 2020, so the Seminoles will be doing everything they can to obtain a five-peat for the title. -Kate Reiniche
Men’s soccer
Following the departures of several Duke stars to the MLS and freshman goalkeeper Julian Eyestone to Brentford B, head coach John Kerr took to the portal to bring in several graduate transfers to the 2024 squad. Headlined by goalkeeper Wessel Speel out of Hofstra, attack Adam Luckhurst from South Carolina and UNC Wilmington transfer midfielder Colton Pleasants, Kerr’s class of new additions would bring some fresh talent to complement Duke’s returners.
The Blue Devils opened their season on a non-conference slate against San Diego, UC San Diego, and Grand Canyon, where they exited their first week of games with a tie, a win and a loss. Before turning to conference play, Duke’s 14-1 clobbering of Averett tied the program record for most goals in a single match. Finally, the Blue Devils faced highly anticipated rival opponent North Carolina in Durham, heartbreakingly losing 2-1 to the then-No. 11 Tar Heels.
Since that mid-September matchup against their Tobacco Road rivals, the Blue Devils have gone undefeated, outscoring their opponents 32-7 in the process. In fact, through the regular season, Duke has earned the title of the highest scoring team in the country, and leads Division I teams with a dominant 38-goal scoring differential. As of Tuesday, the Blue Devils are ranked No. 2 in the nation.
Through a confident stretch of dominant victories through the ultimate fraction of the regular season Duke played its way to the second-overall ranking in the United Soccer Coaches poll and earned the No. 3-seed in this year’s ACC tournament.
In the tournament’s first round, Duke welcomes Virginia Tech to Koskinen Stadium for a 7 p.m. start Wednesday. The match will mark the second meeting between the Blue Devils and the Hokies after the teams’ first showdown in Blacksburg, Va., two weeks ago. Duke snuck away with the 1-0 victory in that meeting through a second-half strike by Drew Kerr. Alongside the Virginia Tech backline, Hokie goalkeeper Cooper Wenzel effectively shut down the highest scoring team in the nation, handing Virginia Tech the momentum to nearly send an equalizer past its ranked visitors. But the Blue Devils left Thompson Field with a win and continued its unbeaten streak. Now, the Hokies have been given the chance to avenge their homecoming loss to the Blue Devils, and Virginia Tech certainly won’t let Duke stroll its way through the first round of the ACC tournament.
In the event the Blue Devils advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament, they’ll be matched up with the winner of California and North Carolina’s Wednesday matchup. Should the sixth-seeded Tar Heels earn the win, Duke will take on North Carolina having gone undefeated through the 11-game sequence that the in-state rivalry matches bookend. A no-call handball controversy on North Carolina’s game winner left the Blue Devils outraged by their first conference loss of the season, but 32 goals later, Duke’s confidence has only increased. The second Tar Heels-versus-Blue Devils bout in Durham this season could very well bring as much drama as the first.
The remaining teams that Duke could face in a journey to an ACC title would likely be the first- and second-seeded Pittsburgh and Clemson. Both teams enter the tournament with only two conference losses and sit in the top 10 on the most recent United Soccer Coaches poll. On the bright side, the Blue Devils would be facing these highly-ranked conference foes just 25 miles southeast of Koskinen Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. -Colton Schwabe
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