The ACC announced its All-ACC teams Friday afternoon and, to little surprise to anyone, Duke freshman phenom Michelle Cooper led the way.
A lot can change in 13 seconds.
Even before the start of kickoff, the environment was muted—it was a dreary, rainy afternoon with more clouds in the sky than fans in the stands. And while the Blue Devils’ performance mirrored that environment, the talent gap was too much for the Cardinals to overcome, and Duke came out on top with a 1-0 victory Thursday at Lynn Stadium.
With a stunning amount of awareness for anyone, but especially a freshman, Michelle Cooper let the ball roll right past her, where it found a wide-open Tess Boade at the top of the box, who sent a rocket toward the center of the goal.
No. 6 Duke overcame the stylistic choices of the umpires to notch a crucial 1-0 win over No. 15 Notre Dame on Thursday, effectively clinching an ACC tournament berth.
It all comes down to this. After 13 games of mostly elite soccer, the Blue Devils’ tournament prospects come down to just a pair of games.
Last Sunday, In the span of six hours of real time and almost eight of game time, Duke’s hopes went from dour to dire to blight, then rinsed and repeated. Friday, Duke’s visit to Winston-Salem, N.C. was little more than a tune-up.
This one marked Duke’s first victory away from home since their historic win against North Carolina and gave them the three points in the conference standings necessary to get them into the rapidly upcoming ACC Tournament.
It was definitely a game to remember for head coach Robbie Church who registered his 100th ACC win as the Duke women's soccer head coach.
“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.”
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.
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.
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.
Before this match even started, you could tell there was something different in the air.
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.
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.
