“We're very capable of winning all the games on our schedule,” head coach Robbie Church said. “But we have to look inside of us—staff, players, and answer the questions. Great teams will make adjustments, great teams will come out with determination, and great teams will make that change. This is not the end of the world.”
Just under 16 minutes into the game, the Blue Devils were staring at their first deficit of the season, going down by one on an opportune goal off Elon’s first shot of the game, and how they responded could set the tone for the rest of the season.
The story begins with the environment of the night. It was alumni night at Koskinen Stadium and there were 25 former players in attendance to watch the Blue Devils take on the Orange.
After freshman forward Shakur Mohammed scored first off a counter attack and an assist from sophomore Peter Stroud in the 22nd minute, the Blue Devils held the lead for the rest of the game after a stellar defensive performance, eventually coming away with a 3-1 victory.
“I think the team has just grown over time,” Thorleifur Ulfarsson said. “We're getting better and better at the best time of the year.”
Duke dug itself into a hole early. In the 22nd minute of the game, Virginia Tech’s Nicole Kozlova sliced through the defense and delivered a strike to the back of the net, putting her team at a 1-0 advantage.
Defeating Syracuse 1-0 at SU Soccer Stadium, the sixth-ranked Blue Devils kept their perfect conference record intact while proving to themselves their own resiliency and versatility.
Fear not Duke fans—this particular confluence of chaos is unlikely to happen again.
The second-ranked Blue Devils made the trip to Charlottesville, Va., for a Thursday night matchup against No. 7 Virginia.
Expect an end-to-end, enthralling 90 minutes of evenly matched teams abundant in tenacity and talent. Regardless of whether you’re a Cavalier or a Blue Devil, enjoy the spectacle; there are sure to be fireworks.
Even if you couldn’t see the scoreboard, the frustrated jeers from the crowded Tar Heel student section would have clued you in to Duke men’s soccer’s all but inevitable win as the minutes on the clock ticked away.
Before this match even started, you could tell there was something different in the air.
For Duke, a victory would mark consecutive triumphs over established ACC heavyweights, while, for North Carolina, a win would be the perfect way to bounce back from the Pittsburgh loss and re-establish their status among the conference’s elite.
Michello Cooper, unmarked, crossed it to enganche Tess Boade, who only needed to adjust the ball’s path for a wide-open goal—Duke’s first against North Carolina in over four years.
Duke comes in ranked fourth in the country while North Carolina checks in at No. 2, and the two will battle Friday night at 7 p.m. in Chapel Hill.
Koskinen Stadium saw an end-to-end, thrilling match, with Thorleifur Ulfarsson’s first-half penalty ultimately deciding the difference in the hard-fought affair.
Coming off of its phenomenal win against No. 11 Stanford, No. 5 Duke closed its nonconference schedule without a dent in its undefeated record by demolishing East Carolina 5-0 Thursday night.
Robbie Church has been the head coach of Duke women's soccer for two decades, and has established the Blue Devils as not only a perennial November threat, but the premier tournament team.
Goalkeeper Eliot Hamill made a career-high eight saves on 15 shots faced, the second-most faced in his career, and many of them likely left the Red Hawks scratching their heads and wondering How did he save that?
We are three games into the Duke men’s soccer season, and the team has yet to give up a goal.
