Upcoming Event: Women's Soccer at Notre Dame on September 18, 2025 at 7 p.m.
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7 p.m.
Women's Soccer
at Notre Dame
Thursday, September 2
Durham, N.C.
7 p.m.
Duke University
vs
Stanford
Duke Hosts Stanford in Top-10 Showdown Thursday
9/1/2021 3:10:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Match 5
No. 5 Duke (4-0-0) vs. No. 10 Stanford (3-0-0)
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 | 7 p.m. | ACC Network Extra
Durham, N.C. – Koskinen Stadium
NEED TO KNOW
DUKE VS. STANFORD
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
LAST TIME OUT: DUKE 2, VANDERBILT 0
JONES FACES HOMETOWN TEAM
CALIFORNIA LOVE
For more information on Duke women's soccer, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching 'DukeWSOC.'
#GoDuke
No. 5 Duke (4-0-0) vs. No. 10 Stanford (3-0-0)
Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 | 7 p.m. | ACC Network Extra
Durham, N.C. – Koskinen Stadium
NEED TO KNOW
- The fifth-ranked Duke women's soccer team hosts a top-10 showdown on Thursday as No. 10 Stanford comes to Koskinen Stadium for a 7 p.m. match.
- The match will stream live on ACC Network Extra with Chris Edwards and Ryan Craig on the call.
- Duke has shot out to a 4-0-0 start this season, marking the sixth time in program history that the Blue Devils won each of their first four games.
- The team is coming off its first road victory of the season, a 2-0 win at Vanderbilt on Sunday, Aug. 29.
- Senior Mackenzie Pluck has already scored three times to open her senior campaign, marking the most goals in a four-game stretch for the North Wales, Pa., native since September of 2019.
- Freshman Michelle Cooper became the fourth player in program history to score in each of her first three career matches and followed up with her first career assist at Vanderbilt.
- Cooper currently leads the ACC in shots (22) while ranking tied for second in goals (4) and tied for fourth in points (9).
- Junior goalkeeper Ruthie Jones has allowed just two goals on 16 shots faced this season and boasts a .800 save percentage.
- The 2021 campaign marks the 34th season in program history and the 21st in Durham for head coach Robbie Church, where he has won 260 games and led the Blue Devils to three NCAA College Cup appearances.
- Duke returns 20 letterwinners and nine starters from the 2020-21 team. Each of the three team captains from last season -- Tess Boade, Caitlin Cosme and Lily Nabet -- are using their additional year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have enrolled in graduate school at Duke.
- The 2021 roster is highlighted by five seniors -- Delaney Graham, Marykate McGuire, Mackenzie Pluck, Sydney Simmons and Holly Stam.
DUKE VS. STANFORD
- Sunday marks another high-profile match between two of the nation's premier programs as Duke and Stanford have met 10 total times since 1989.
- The Cardinal hold an 8-1-1 advantage in the all-time series, with two games occurring in the NCAA College Cup.
- Stanford edged Duke by a 1-0 margin in the 2011 national title game in Kennesaw, Ga., four years before the Blue Devils downed the Cardinal in penalty kicks of the quarterfinal round to advance to the 2015 College Cup.
- The two teams have met just once in Durham -- a 1-0 Stanford win in overtime on Oct. 20, 1990.
- The Blue Devils' lone regulation win in the all-time series came on Sept. 13, 1996 -- a 3-0 victory in Chapel Hill, N.C., as part of the Carolina Classic.
- Duke is 13-26-10 all-time and 9-20-9 under head coach Robbie Church when playing at home against an opponent ranked in the top 10 of the NSCAA/United Soccer Coaches poll.
- The Blue Devils and Cardinal have each advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals seven times since 2011, making them two of three programs nationally with seven-plus quarterfinal appearances in the last decade (Florida State – 8).
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
- After missing the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 1997, Stanford has come out of the gates with a 3-0-0 record to open the 2021 campaign.
- The Cardinal have outscored their opponents by a combined 15-0 margin, with their last victory being a 6-0 decision over San Diego State on Sunday, Aug. 29.
- As a team, the Cardinal have attempted 89 shots with 47 on target through three matches. Their 29.7 shots per game and 15.7 shots on goal per game both rank second in the NCAA.
- Stanford boasts a well-balanced attack as four players have scored twice or more this season. Senior Abby Greubel and junior Maya Doms lead the team with four goals and nine points each.
- Redshirt junior Katie Meyer has started all three games in net, recording five saves while allowing no goals in 212 minutes.
- Now in his 19th season with the program, head coach Paul Ratcliffe has guided Stanford to three national championships, nine College Cup appearances and nine Pac-12 titles.
LAST TIME OUT: DUKE 2, VANDERBILT 0
- Duke improved to 4-0-0 on the young season by earning its first road win, besting Vanderbilt 2-0 in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday, Aug. 29.
- After a scoreless first half, the Blue Devils got on the board in the 53rd minute when freshman Michelle Cooper drew a penalty inside the 18-yard box, setting graduate student Tess Boade up for her second PK goal of the season.
- 11 minutes later, Cooper picked up her first career assist by sending a through ball behind the Commodore defense that found a streaking Mackenzie Pluck, who chipped it over the Vanderbilt goalkeeper to extend the Duke lead to two.
- Duke finished the afternoon with 13 shot attempts and seven on target.
- Junior Ruthie Jones recorded her first complete shutout of the season, collecting three saves in 90 minutes.
- With the win, the Blue Devils advanced to 4-0-0 for the sixth time in program history and the first time since 2011.
- Duke has outscored its opponents 10-1 in the second half of games this season.
JONES FACES HOMETOWN TEAM
- Junior Sophie Jones grew up in Menlo Park, Calif., less than two miles away from the Stanford campus.
- The 2020-21 United Soccer Coaches All-American competed with multiple Cardinal players on club and player development teams before coming to Duke, including Madison Ayson, Maya Doms, Sierra Enge, Naomi Girma, Andrea Kitahata, Katie Meyer, Kellie Pagador, Paige Rubinstein, Kennedy Wesley and Astrid Wheeler.
- One of Duke's most decorated current players, Jones has picked up numerous preseason accolades in the last few weeks, including Preseason All-ACC, College Soccer News Preseason All-America Second Team and TopDrawerSoccer.com Preseason Best XI Team honors.
- She is also one of 59 players on the preseason watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, awarded annually to the most outstanding male and female players of the year.
CALIFORNIA LOVE
- The 2021 Blue Devils feature four California natives, making it the most represented state on Duke's roster.
- Junior Sophie Jones (Menlo Park), graduate student Lily Nabet (Los Angeles), sophomore Grace Watkins (Manhattan Beach) and freshman Kelly Wilson (Manhattan Beach) came to Durham from the Golden State.
- No other roster in the ACC has more than two players from California.
- Jones, Nabet and Watkins combined for 58 games played in 2020-21, with each logging over 600 total minutes.
- Wilson has two sisters who played for the Duke women's soccer team -- Kara, who started 59-of-71 games from 2012-15, and Emily, who appeared in six contests over two seasons (2016-17).
For more information on Duke women's soccer, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching 'DukeWSOC.'
#GoDuke
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