Completed Event: Women's Soccer versus #1 Stanford on December 5, 2025 , Loss , 0, to, 1
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Final
Women's Soccer
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vs #1 Stanford
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Photo by: Rob Kinnan / USA Today Sports
Blue Devil Back in Carolina
2/6/2023 2:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer
By Morgan Pruchniewski, Duke Athletic Communications Student Assistant
DURHAM -- Class of 2021 Tess Boade is still making the Blue Devils proud in Carolina.
The midfielder had an impressive career at Duke, serving as team captain and starting 67 matches across her five years with the program. Boade scored 22 goals and registered 15 assists for the Devils and was recognized as an All-ACC First Team selection in her fifth year of eligibility.
Boade was originally drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 NWSL draft to Gotham FC, before joining the NC Courage in March of 2022.
Throughout the transition from the college to professional level of play, Boade notes the preparation she gained from her time as a Blue Devil.
"Duke really prepared me well," said Boade. "I feel really fortunate that I came from a school that had such a high level of play and a professional and tactical training environment. Robbie [Church], Carla [Overbeck], Kieran [Hall], and Lane [Davis] all throughout my time at Duke taught me skills like discipline, time management, and even being good at recovery."
NC Courage head coach Sean Nahas acknowledged that preparation as well.
"Tess joined our team with a lot of unknowns for the year. As the season went on, she stayed patient and worked every single day to improve and be the best teammate she could be," Nahas said. "[Tess] never complained, never questioned anything. She knew her time would come if she stayed consistent in training."
Boade made her first career start against Gotham FC and then scored her first professional goal in the next contest against Louisville, which she regards as one of her proudest moments of the season.
"My first career goal came a couple weeks after that against Louisville," Boade recounts. "It was hilarious, I don't think I had a single header goal my whole career at Duke and my first career goal professionally was a header goal. Robbie [Church] sent me some text laughing about it immediately."
Texts like this show the connection that Boade still has with her Blue Devil family.
"Especially because I'm still in the area, I talk to the Duke coaching and medical staff a lot," Boade said. "They're such great people and I'm so unbelievably grateful for Duke and how well it prepared me for the pros. There's now 11 Duke girls in the NWSL and it's been so nice to keep in touch with them as well, especially Lily [Nabet] and Caitlin [Cosme] who were my roommates in college and are two of my best friends."
Boade wrapped up her rookie season for the Courage with two goals and an assist. The midfielder had four career starts and played a total of 329 minutes.
"Towards the end of the season, she earned herself a starting spot and fit in exactly with what we wanted to do tactically and the rest was history," said Nahas. "[We're] really proud of her for what she did. Not only for our team but for herself in her first year as a pro and [we] look forward to what she will continue to do moving forward."
After nine months with the Courage, Boade participated in a two-month loan with Western Sydney to play in the Australian A-League at the beginning of the off season.
"In my first year, I'm super excited that I got to experience such different professional environments," said Boade. "It was important for me to get game minutes and keep my fitness up while in Australia."
With her rookie season under her belt, Boade is looking forward to coming back even stronger this season.
"[Since returning from Australia] I focused on taking time away, enjoying the holidays, and being fresh mentally and physically for when preseason starts," said Boade. "Rookie season was a whirlwind, so this year I'm really looking forward to going in knowing what to expect now and having more of an end goal in mind. I'm also looking forward to having most of the core group coming back [to the Courage. So, I'm excited for us to get a little bit of revenge this season."
Watch Boade and the rest of the NC Courage kick off their 2023 season in March!
#GoDuke
DURHAM -- Class of 2021 Tess Boade is still making the Blue Devils proud in Carolina.
The midfielder had an impressive career at Duke, serving as team captain and starting 67 matches across her five years with the program. Boade scored 22 goals and registered 15 assists for the Devils and was recognized as an All-ACC First Team selection in her fifth year of eligibility.
Boade was originally drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 NWSL draft to Gotham FC, before joining the NC Courage in March of 2022.
Throughout the transition from the college to professional level of play, Boade notes the preparation she gained from her time as a Blue Devil.
"Duke really prepared me well," said Boade. "I feel really fortunate that I came from a school that had such a high level of play and a professional and tactical training environment. Robbie [Church], Carla [Overbeck], Kieran [Hall], and Lane [Davis] all throughout my time at Duke taught me skills like discipline, time management, and even being good at recovery."
NC Courage head coach Sean Nahas acknowledged that preparation as well.
"Tess joined our team with a lot of unknowns for the year. As the season went on, she stayed patient and worked every single day to improve and be the best teammate she could be," Nahas said. "[Tess] never complained, never questioned anything. She knew her time would come if she stayed consistent in training."
Boade made her first career start against Gotham FC and then scored her first professional goal in the next contest against Louisville, which she regards as one of her proudest moments of the season.
"My first career goal came a couple weeks after that against Louisville," Boade recounts. "It was hilarious, I don't think I had a single header goal my whole career at Duke and my first career goal professionally was a header goal. Robbie [Church] sent me some text laughing about it immediately."
Texts like this show the connection that Boade still has with her Blue Devil family.
"Especially because I'm still in the area, I talk to the Duke coaching and medical staff a lot," Boade said. "They're such great people and I'm so unbelievably grateful for Duke and how well it prepared me for the pros. There's now 11 Duke girls in the NWSL and it's been so nice to keep in touch with them as well, especially Lily [Nabet] and Caitlin [Cosme] who were my roommates in college and are two of my best friends."
Boade wrapped up her rookie season for the Courage with two goals and an assist. The midfielder had four career starts and played a total of 329 minutes.
"Towards the end of the season, she earned herself a starting spot and fit in exactly with what we wanted to do tactically and the rest was history," said Nahas. "[We're] really proud of her for what she did. Not only for our team but for herself in her first year as a pro and [we] look forward to what she will continue to do moving forward."
After nine months with the Courage, Boade participated in a two-month loan with Western Sydney to play in the Australian A-League at the beginning of the off season.
"In my first year, I'm super excited that I got to experience such different professional environments," said Boade. "It was important for me to get game minutes and keep my fitness up while in Australia."
With her rookie season under her belt, Boade is looking forward to coming back even stronger this season.
"[Since returning from Australia] I focused on taking time away, enjoying the holidays, and being fresh mentally and physically for when preseason starts," said Boade. "Rookie season was a whirlwind, so this year I'm really looking forward to going in knowing what to expect now and having more of an end goal in mind. I'm also looking forward to having most of the core group coming back [to the Courage. So, I'm excited for us to get a little bit of revenge this season."
Watch Boade and the rest of the NC Courage kick off their 2023 season in March!
#GoDuke
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