No. 10 Duke Heads West to Face No. 3 Stanford

Saturday, September 2

Stanford, Calif.

10 p.m.

Duke University

Stanford

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 10 Duke Heads West to Face No. 3 Stanford

9/1/2023 10:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Duke-Stanford Notes

Live Stats l Watch on Pac-12 Insider l Twitter l Media Guide l Media Hub l Match Notes

Match 4
#10 Duke (2-1-0) at #3 Stanford (4-0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023 - 10 PM (ET) – Pac-12 Insider
Stanford, Calif. (Cagan Stadium)
Pac-12 Insider Talent: Kevin Danna (PXP), Kylen Mills (Analyst)

NEED TO KNOW
•   For the first time this season, the 10th-ranked Duke women's soccer team will hit the road as the Blue Devils (2-1-0) travel to third-ranked Stanford (4-0) on Saturday, Sept. 2 for a 10 p.m. (ET) kick at Cagan Stadium in Stanford, Calif.
•   Saturday's match versus Stanford will be aired live on Pac-12 Insider with Kevin Danna (PXP) and Kylen Mills (Analyst) calling the action.
•   Coming off three straight NCAA Tournament quarterfinal appearances, Duke returns five starters -- Maggie Graham, Katie Groff, Olivia Migli, Kat Rader and Emily Royson -- and 15 letterwinners off its 15-5-3 squad from 2022.
•   Duke welcomes the No. 6 overall recruiting class with eight freshmen and three transfers. In the final TopDrawerSoccer.com (TDS) class of 2023 rankings, the Blue Devils featured four players in the top-40 of the ledger – Cameron Roller (5), Mia Minestrella (13), Kiera Clemens (26) and Phoebe Goldthwaite (38). The reigning Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year, Leah Freeman, from Oregon along with two-year starter Kati Druzina (Notre Dame) and Julia Saunicheva (UCLA) also transferred in.

STORYLINES/OTHER BLUE DEVIL NOTES
•   Eight Blue Devils head back to their home state of California for Saturday's match at Stanford -- Leah Freeman, Elle Piper, Grace Watkins, Julia Saunicheva, Mia Minestrella, Kelly Wilson, Madison Foxhoven and Bianca Dominguez.
•   Duke has scored goals in the first half in the first three games for the first time since the 2017 season. In 2017, the Blue Devils totaled goals in the first half in each of the first seven matches.
•   In her first two seasons, when Kat Rader scores, the Blue Devils feature a 11-1-1 ledger. She owns a 1.73 points per game average in 26 career matches. Rader has scored three of Duke's five goals this season and has 15 over her short career. She became just the sixth Blue Devil to register goals in each of her first three matches to start a season.
•   Duke registered its 450th all-time win in the season opener against West Virginia. The Blue Devils became just the 22nd program to reach 450 wins on the women's soccer side.
•   Duke welcomes 11 newcomers to the 2023 roster as head coach Robbie Church enters his 23rd season with the Blue Devils.
•   Leah Freeman has earned a trio of preseason honors -- MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, TopDrawerSoccer Best XI First Team along with United Soccer Coaches Goalkeepers Watch List.
•   Senior Maggie Graham enters her first season at Duke without her sister, Delaney, as Delaney graduated this past year and is now enrolled in the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tenn., to start the process of being a doctor.
•   The Blue Devils will need to replace the reigning MAC Hermann Trophy Award winner Michelle Cooper, after she turned professional following her sophomore season with Duke. In two seasons, Cooper scored 31 goals, added 16 assists and posted 78 points. She scored in 29-of-40 matches.

THE SERIES WITH STANFORD
•   Duke features a 2-8-1 series record against Stanford with a 0-1-1 record on the road.
•   This will be the 12th time in history these two teams meet.
•   Blue Devil head coach Robbie Church has a 1-3-1 ledger versus Stanford
•   Their most recent match was in 2021 at home in which Duke won a tough game 2-1 with goals from Michelle Cooper and Caitlin Cosme.
•   The last time Duke traveled to Stanford was during the 2015 NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils tied, 1-1, through two overtimes and prevailed, 3-2, on penalty kicks to advance to the NCAA College Cup. Goalkeeper EJ Proctor was huge in penalty kicks.

SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
•   Stanford owns a 4-0 ledger to open the season with two matches at home and two on the road. This will mark the third straight home match for the Cardinal.
•   Jasmine Aikey leads Stanford with three goals in four matches.
•   The Cardinal defense has allowed only two goals on the year, while outshooting opponents 93-25.

DUKE VS. THE PAC-12
•   Duke currently holds a 16-19-1 record against Pac-12 teams.

A WIN WOULD...
•   Move Duke to 3-1-0 on the season
•   Mark the second straight win versus Stanford in the series.
•   Improve the Blue Devils to 5-3-1 against top-10 ranked teams on the road the last two years.

HEY, I KNOW YOU...
•   Both Elle Piper and Julia Saunicheva played club soccer with Stanford's Elise Evans, Jasmine Aikey and Andrea Kitahata. They all won at least one championship together.
•   Maggie Graham played club soccer at Tophat with Stanford's Astrid Wheeler. They also went to middle and high school together at Westminster in Atlanta.
•   Leah Freeman was a club soccer teammate with Julia Leontini at Mustang Soccer Club. They played against each other in high school, including the 2020 NCS Championship game in which Leontini's squad won 1-0 over Freeman's Berkeley H.S. team.
•   While at Oregon, Leah Freeman went 1-2-1 against Stanford in goal.

RADER SCORES AGAIN...
•   Eight Blue Devils head back to their home state of California for Saturday's match at Stanford -- Leah Freeman (Berkeley), Elle Piper (San Jose), Grace Watkins (Manhattan Beach), Julia Saunicheva (San Jose), Mia Minestrella (Redondo Beach), Kelly Wilson (Manhattan Beach), Madison Foxhoven (Calabasas) and Bianca Dominguez (Hercules).
•   Duke is playing in the state of California for the first time since a match with Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament Second Round in 2019 (Duke lost 1-0).

RADER IN ELITE COMPANY...
•   For the third straight match, sophomore Kat Rader scored for the Blue Devils. She now owns three goals over the first three matches to open the season.
•   She tallied a goal at the 12:35 mark of the first half against Southern California, at 10:39 versus West Virginia and 75:38 against Wisconsin.
•   Rader now owns 15 goals over her 26-game career at Duke.

GOALS IN FIRST THREE MATCHES...
•   A total of 11 players nationally have scored goals over their teams' first three matches to open the 2023 season -- Nikole Solis (FIU), Jordyn Rhodes (Kentucky), Kate Doyle (Gonzaga), Maya Hansen (South Dakota State), Lydia Nduke (Robert Morris), Ally Cook (UCLA), Nicole Dallin (Arizona), Olivia Fout (Colorado State), Olivia Katoa (BYU) and Kameron Simmonds (Tennessee).
•   Rader is the only player in the ACC to score goals in each of her team's first three matches.
•   In looking at Duke's history, only six Blue Devils have scored goals in each of the first three matches to open the year -- Michelle Cooper (2021), Kristy Whelchel (1996), Kelly Walbert (1995), Caitlin Connelly (1990) and Heidi Mauger (1989).
•   Only Kristy Whelchel has posted goals in the first four matches to open a season for Duke, which happened in 1996.

WATKINS FINDS NET...
•   Senior Grace Watkins collected her first goal of the season and fifth of her career in the first half against Wisconsin.
•   She has now posted at least one goal in each of her four seasons with the Blue Devils.
•   Duke features 43 players that have scored goals in each of their four years.

TRIO NAMED CAPTAINS...
•   Head coach Robbie Church announced this week that a trio of seniors were named captains with Nicky Chico, Maggie Graham and Katie Groff voted by their teammates.

LAGEYRE ATTACKING...
•   Sophomore Carina Lageyre was on the attack against Southern California posting a career-high four shots, including two on goal. She added her first career assist as she helped setup Kat Rader for Duke's lone goal.
•   Lageyre added an assist against Wisconsin in the next match as well, while attempting two shots.
•   Heading into the USC match, Lageyre had taken five shots in eight career matches.