Blue Devil Women's Soccer Hosts Bucs Sunday at 6 PM

Sunday, September 8

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

East Tennessee State

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Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devil Women's Soccer Hosts Bucs Sunday at 6 PM

9/7/2024 11:56:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Match 5
East Tennessee State (1-3-1) at Duke (1-1-0)
Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024 - 6 PM (ET) - ACC Network Extra
Durham, N.C. (Koskinen Stadium)
ACC Network Extra Talent: Evan Budrovich (PXP)

NEED TO KNOW

Coming off a historic win on Thursday against No. 2 North Carolina, Duke women's soccer (3-1-0) hosts East Tennessee State (1-3-1) Sunday evening at 6 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium.
Sunday's contest will be aired live on ACC Network Extra with Evan Budrovich on the call.
On the season, Duke has scored eight goals by seven different players. Graduate student Maggie Graham is the one Blue Devil to score multiple goals.
Over the last three games, five of the eight goals scored have come by first-time Duke goal scorers -- Ella Hase, Farrah Walters, Mia Minestrella, Cameron Roller and Devin Lynch. Mia Oliaro and Hannah Bebar have tallied their first Duke assists (2).
Duke welcomed eight newcomers to the 2024 roster as head coach Robbie Church is in his 24th season in Durham. Church announced on July 22, 2024 he will be retiring at the end of the season and Duke will be promoting associate head coach Kieran Hall to head coach in 2025. Current assistant coach Carla Overbeck will move to associate head coach in 2025 as well.

STORYLINES/OTHER BLUE DEVIL NOTES

Duke features a 305:48 shutout streak since allowing its lone goal of the season at Ohio State in the season opener.
The Duke/Tennessee match was canceled due to inclement weather on Sept. 1.
The Blue Devils are averaging 19.5 shots a match and outshooting opponents by a 78-25 margin.
Duke has scored eight goals the last three matches. The Blue Devils scored a total of 15 goals a season ago.
Freshman Mary Long missed the Nebraska match as she was training with the U.S. U-17 Women's National Team. She returned to Duke practice on Saturday, Aug. 24.
Duke's 4-0 win against UNCW was the 250th win in program history at home.
The last time the Blue Devils dropped a season opener was in 2017. Duke went on to win 19 straight matches after the loss and made an appearance in the NCAA College Cup.
Duke was shutout in the season opener for the first time since 2014, which was also a loss to Ohio State (1-0).
The Blue Devils return 10 starters and 17 letterwinners from the previous season. Of the 15 goals scored in 2023, the Blue Devils return players that scored 13 of those led by Kat Rader (7), Carina Lageyre (2) and Katie Groff (2).
Duke brought in four transfers for the 2024 campaign that feature excellent resumes. Hannah Bebar, Farrah Walters, Ella Hase and Mia Oliaro have combined to play in 141 matches with 132 starts, scored 48 goals, added 42 assists and notched 138 points over their careers.
The Blue Devils were ranked No. 24 nationally in the United Soccer Coaches poll, which marked the ninth time out of the last 10 years Duke has been preseason ranked.
The last time Duke head coach Robbie Church dealt with a losing season was in 2014 and the next year he led the Blue Devils to the 2015 NCAA College Cup.
Blue Devil head coach Robbie Church is four wins away from reaching 300 victories at Duke.
Duke will take its eight natives of California back to their home state in October for a week-long road trip to play Stanford (Oct. 10) and California (Oct. 13).

THE SERIES WITH ETSU

Duke and East Tennessee State will meet for the first time in school history.
Head coach Robbie Church has faced ETSU only once in his long career. As the head coach at Charlotte, Church's squad won 10-0 in 1997 against the Bucs.

SCOUTING THE BUCS

The Bucs enter the contest with a 1-3-1 overall record and 0-1-1 ledger on the road.
ETSU has been led by Grace Eatz, Reagan Fitzgerald and Ruby Teixeira with one goal each.
The Bucs totaled the lone win at home against Eastern Kentucky, 1-0.

DUKE VERSUS THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE

Duke holds a record of 27-5-0 against the Southern Conference.
In the most recent match against a Southern Conference opponent, Duke defeated UNCG, 1-0, in Greensboro, N.C., a season ago.
The Blue Devils have won seven straight matches against Southern Conference schools. The last loss to a Southern Conference school was in 2009 to UNCG.

BLUE DEVILS NET HISTORIC VICTORY

The Blue Devils entered the match 0-17-3 against North Carolina in Durham over the history of the series, before claiming the 1-0 victory.
Head coach Robbie Church was 0-8-3 at home in Durham prior to notching the historic win against the Tar Heels.
Duke led 1-0 at the half, marking the first time in the series that Duke has led at the half since Oct. 16, 2015 in Chapel Hill as the Blue Devils won 1-0.
It marked the first time Duke led at the half in the series in Durham since Oct. 18, 1999.The Blue Devils led 2-0 at the half and ended up falling, 3-2.
Over the 52 all-time meetings, Duke shutout North Carolina for the seventh time. The last three victories for the Blue Devils against the Tar Heels have been 1-0 ledgers (2024, 2021 and 2015).
Duke totaled its sixth overall victory over a No. 2 or No. 1 ranked team nationally.

STRONG DEFENSE

Over four matches, Duke has allowed only one goal against Ohio State in the season opener. The Blue Devils have posted three straight shutouts since then and features a 305:48 scoreless streak.
Duke is one of only four ACC schools -- Florida State, Virginia and Stanford -- to only allow one goal this season.
The Blue Devils have allowed only 16 shots the last three matches for an average of 5.3 per game.
Duke's defense has allowed only three corner kicks in four matches as well.
If the Blue Devils can post a shutout against ETSU, Duke will have four straight shutouts, which would be the most shutouts in a row since 2021 when the Blue Devils had five straight.

OFFENSIVE ATTACK

For the first time under the direction of head coach Robbie Church, the Blue Devils have attempted 20+ shots in the opening three matches to start a season.
This season, Duke had 21 at Ohio State, 20 at Nebraska and a season-high 28 versus UNC Wilmington.
Duke's 19.5 shots per game average on the season currently ranks tied for fifth in the ACC -- Florida State (32.6), Pitt (24.1), Wake Forest (22.8), Stanford (19.5) and Duke (19.5).
Duke's 69 shots through three matches were the ninth-most over the first three games in school history. The most was 98 in 1989.

A WIN WOULD...

Mark the fourth straight win on the season.
Move Robbie Church to 297 all-time wins and only three away from 300.

PIPER TO MISS REST OF SEASON

Junior defender Elle Piper will miss the rest of the 2024 season, after suffering a knee injury against Ohio State in the season opener.
Piper has started 20-of-38 matches over the last three seasons and tallied one goal and two assists.

EXPERIENCED GROUP

In the North Carolina match, graduate student Maggie Graham eclipsed the 5,000-minute mark as a Blue Devil and has played 5,019:48 minutes over her career.
Duke currently features one 6,000-minute player (Leah Freeman) and three 5,000-minute Blue Devils -- Katie Groff (5,558:00) and Ella Hase (5,882:05).

ACTIVE LEADERS IN THE NCAA

In looking at the active career leaders in the NCAA, the Blue Devils feature a few players in the rankings --
Hannah Bebar ranks tied for 10th with 27 assists and fourth with a 0.53 assists per game average.
Leah Freeman ranks tied for 13th with 25 shutouts, 13th in minutes (6,167.47) and 25th with 4.54 saves per game.

LAST TIME OUT

Duke graduate student Maggie Graham scored with 38 seconds remaining in the first half and the Blue Devil defense held strong en route to a 1-0 victory over No. 2 North Carolina on Thursday at Koskinen Stadium.
Cameron Roller and Mia Minestrella added assists for the Blue Devils on the game-winner. Roller assisted on Duke's lone goal for the second straight year.
It marked Graham's 10th career tally and fourth game-winning goal.
Leah Freeman played 90 minutes and had a season-high five saves on the night. She posted her 25th career shutout.