Dream Chasers
Three Blue Devils back in blue after adventure with Team USA
Meredith Rieder, GoDuke The Magazine
Ranked ninth nationally and 2-1early in ACC play, Duke field hockey is off to a strong start in 2025. And they’ve only been a complete team for a month.
Six weeks ago, water cannons soaked the piercing blue turf field on Duke’s East Campus, music blared over the speakers and 22 Blue Devils warmed up convivially in preparation for the 30/15 fitness test. The 2025 edition of Duke field hockey preseason was underway.
Meanwhile, 7,600 miles away in Asunción, Paraguay the Blue Devil trio of sophomore Madison Beach and seniors Alaina McVeigh and Macy Szukics were with a different group on a quest for gold as they traded in their Duke Blue for red, white and blue as members of the U-21 National Team at the Junior Pan American Games.
Scheduled to run from August 9-23, the Junior Pan Am Games meant Beach, McVeigh and Szukics would miss most of preseason, including a pair of home scrimmages, and the Blue Devils would be without three crucial members of their squad. While the timing might not have been ideal, the Duke coaching staff, led by head coach Pam Bustin, threw their full support behind them from the moment they expressed interest in pursuing the opportunity.
“When it comes to kids who want to represent their countries and have an opportunity to do that, I’m a big proponent of it,” said Bustin. “I lived it myself and I think it’s an incredible opportunity and one that can bring so much self-growth and learning, not only for hockey, but just for your own personal growth.”
All three felt the support from Bustin, associate head coach Ralph Boersma and assistant coach Jess Jecko — and most importantly — their 22 teammates.
“I think our coaches always gave us the support and the knowledge that if we did get selected, they would want us to go,” said Beach. “That is comforting to us.”
McVeigh knew the team and had full confidence in herself, Madison and Macy and all her teammates and was certain nobody would miss a beat.
“I’d say we all jumped at the opportunity and knew we’d be supported by our coaches and our team even though we were missing preseason,” said McVeigh. “We knew they all would have our back, and we felt fine missing that amount of time.”
Bustin shared these same sentiments, respecting the strength of the team’s culture, the work everyone had put in during the spring and the maturity of the three players chasing a dream.
“I think it depends on who is going and who your team is,” Bustin said. “Our team had such a great spring together and I don’t worry about those three coming back in terms of team culture. I don’t worry about them coming back hockey-wise. On the field they’re such givers and care so much about this program.”
Bustin was right to not be concerned about the group jumping back into the fold immediately as McVeigh and Szukics along with classmate Paige Bitting were voted tri-captains a week after returning from Paraguay.
The process of wearing the USA jersey on the international stage started over a year ago with identification sessions and training camps. The wheels to Paraguay were officially set in motion this past June when USA Field Hockey announced the 16-player roster for the tournament.
After a fabulous spring of hockey and team bonding with their fellow Blue Devils, Beach, McVeigh and Szukics headed to Charlotte to begin building cohesion on and off the field with their new teammates.
USA Field Hockey had the members of the U-21 squad live together in dorms for 10 or 11 days, allowing the team to form connections virtually every minute of the day. Beach had a slight advantage when it came to creating those sisterly bonds as her younger sister, Ella, was now her teammate — an opportunity cherished by both.
On the field at the pre-tournament training camp, the U21 squad faced the challenges of competing against the senior U.S. Women’s National Team and the New Zealand National Team. Lessons were learned and sometimes a small slice of humble pie served as the U21 players battled athletes at least five or six years older. For the Blue Devils, it taught them to embrace the physicality of the game and use it to their advantage.
“Field hockey-wise, (I learned) physicality,” Beach said. “I’m not much of a physical or aggressive player, but I learned that that could be a huge strength in my game, especially internationally when they might be bigger and faster. Being able to be physical is super helpful and will give you an advantage."
Filled with excitement about the opportunity of a lifetime, there also was a hint of melancholy over missing Duke’s preseason, especially for Szukics who was heading into her final one as a Blue Devil.
“I did have a lot (of fear of missing out),” said Szukics. “I think for me it was really hard because I don’t have another year, so it being my last preseason and not being there was hard. But it was such a good opportunity I didn’t want to pass up on it. I really missed being with everyone because the environment you get to play in playing for Duke field hockey — it’s just so different.”
McVeigh, who has another year of Duke field hockey in her pocket after missing her freshman year to an injury, seconded Szukics sentiment about the incredible “Duke True” culture and the challenge in missing those crucial moments.
“We just all love being with our team so much, and preseason is a time when you get to build a lot of those relationships, especially with the new people,” McVeigh said. “So, I think we felt like we were missing out a little bit on that.”
Even though they were over 7,000 miles away, the group chat was active every day and the three of them sent good luck videos to their Blue Devil teammates before preseason scrimmages against Davidson and Richmond. They even got to see game film, leaving them impressed by the skill level of the new additions to the team and how well the team was gelling already.
“It was really cool to be able to watch some of their scrimmage video and see how talented our incoming freshmen are and how well the whole team was working together so early in preseason,” Beach said. “It was really inspiring and motivated all of us and made us even more excited about coming back and joining an already progressing team.”
While the Blue Devils were working hard and taking strides forward as a team in Durham, Team USA was rolling through pool play in Asunción. McVeigh scored the team’s opening goal on a penalty stroke against Mexico, while Szukics was helping anchor the defense starting at right back and Beach as a playmaker at outside midfield. Szukics’ position shift — she was a midfielder for most of her field hockey career — provided foreshadowing for Duke’s upcoming campaign.
All the work they put in since January was realized with that first goal. The United States went on to win Pool B with McVeigh leading the offense with nine goals and Szukics in the backfield posting three straight shutouts.
“It felt like all the hard work we had put in throughout the year was finally getting put to something,” McVeigh said.
The United States faced a tough Uruguay squad in the semifinals, and it was McVeigh again providing the scoring with both goals in the 2-1 win for a spot in the gold medal game. Up against world No. 2 Argentina, the U.S., suffered its first defeat, 3-0, to finish with silver.
The experience on the international stage was uniquely special for each of them and one they hope to repeat at the Junior World Cup in Chile in December.
“It was really cool to wear the jersey and sing the national anthem and do that alongside my teammates Alaina and Madi,” Szukics said. “It was also cool to see all of the other athletes there — we did a lot of pin trading and that was really cool to get a lot of pins from other countries and meet new people.”
McVeigh reinforced Szukics’ sentiments, recognizing the honor of wearing the jersey and shared a sense of pride in achieving that in her own right. For Beach, it was having it be a family affair that made the two weeks so memorable.
“Just getting to share the experience with my sister and have her there and be able to play together and have these memories and experiences together was really cool,” Beach said.
With new hardware in hand, Beach, McVeigh and Szukics walked into a USA-themed decorated locker room August 20. Following loving hugs from teammates, they hit the ground running towards another dream with the Blue Devils as Duke’s Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium is set to serve as the host site for the NCAA Championship game this year.
Two days later, they were on a bus to play at Wake Forest in the team’s final scrimmage before officially starting the season Aug. 30.
Complete once again, the 2025 version of the Blue Devils started taking shape in the final week leading up to the season opener. McVeigh jumped right back up front to lead the offense, and Beach was poised to make an impact with her skill and speed at right midfield. The new wrinkle? Szukics was going to be Duke’s center back.
“It was a blessing Macy had so much backfield experience having played with the national team,” Bustin said. “And when we introduced it to her, she said ‘Whatever the team needs. I don’t mind. Whatever I can do.’ To have that flexibility in positioning, I’m really proud of her.”
The experience proved to be instrumental for Szukics’ confidence as well. With a better feel for the position in the outdoor game — she had played the role in indoor hockey with her youth club — Szukics leaned into everything she learned over the summer.
“I think learning all of those things and getting so much time in that position really helped me for being able to come back to Duke and be able to step into that role with a lot more confidence than I otherwise would have had,” Szukics said.
For her teammates, the combination of Szukics’ leadership, her elite understanding of the game and skill made her the ideal person to fill the void.
“I think she’s a really good communicator and she sets people up in really good positions,” McVeigh said. “I also think her vision is really really good.”
“It’s not just the vision with the ball,” Bustin said. “When it’s working around, she’s checking out options of where we can exploit the opponent or where she can find her teammates. So that speeds up the play of the game significantly and requires more from her middies and forwards, which again elevates the game.”
Through the first seven games, McVeigh has picked up right where she left off with five goals and three assists for 13 points, becoming just the 19th Blue Devil to reach 75 career points. Beach has started every game for Duke and has a team-best five assists. Szukics, providing a pair of assists, has led the Blue Devils to three consecutive shutouts as Duke has allowed just two goals since giving up four in the season-opening loss.
Duke has just three regular-season home games remaining, but continued growth and progression over the next two months could land the complete team back on that stunning blue turf, making up for those 10 days they missed. But this time they will have eyes on a different kind of hardware with 22 of their closest friends.
“It’s definitely a unique (situation),” Bustin said. “I don’t know if it would be a cookie-cutter plan every time. For us it worked out.”
This story originally appeared in the 17.2 issue of GoDuke The Magazine – September 2025. Dedicated to sharing the stories of Duke student-athletes, present and past, GoDuke The Magazine is published for Duke Athletics by LEARFIELD with editorial offices at 3100 Tower Blvd., Suite 404, Durham, NC 27707. To subscribe, join the Iron Dukes or call (336) 831-0767.