2023 Duke Blue Devils women's soccer team

2023 Duke Blue Devils women's soccer
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Record	6–7–3 (2–5–3 ACC)
Head coach	Robbie Church (23rd season)
Assistant coaches	Kieran Hall (5th season) Carla Overbeck (30th season) Lane Davis (8th season)
Home stadium	Koskinen Stadium
Seasons ←  2022 2024  →

2023 ACC women's soccer standings

v t e	Conf									Overall
Team	W		L		T		PCT			W		L		T		PCT
No. 1 Florida State  ‍†‍‡‍y	9	–	0	–	1		.950			22	–	0	–	1		.978
No. 16 Notre Dame  ‍‍‍y	7	–	1	–	2		.800			12	–	4	–	4		.700
No. 3 Clemson  ‍‍‍y	7	–	2	–	1		.750			18	–	4	–	4		.769
No. 8 North Carolina  ‍‍‍y	5	–	0	–	5		.750			13	–	2	–	8		.739
No. 6 Pittsburgh  ‍‍‍y	6	–	3	–	1		.650			17	–	6	–	1		.729
Wake Forest  ‍‍‍	4	–	2	–	4		.600			10	–	3	–	5		.694
Virginia  ‍‍‍	3	–	3	–	4		.500			8	–	3	–	6		.647
Virginia Tech  ‍‍‍	4	–	6	–	0		.400			7	–	8	–	3		.472
Louisville  ‍‍‍	3	–	5	–	2		.400			4	–	9	–	5		.361
Duke  ‍‍‍	2	–	5	–	3		.350			6	–	7	–	3		.469
NC State  ‍‍‍	2	–	5	–	3		.350			3	–	9	–	6		.333
Miami (FL)  ‍‍‍	2	–	7	–	1		.250			3	–	10	–	4		.294
Boston College  ‍‍‍	0	–	6	–	4		.200			3	–	9	–	6		.333
Syracuse  ‍‍‍	0	–	9	–	1		.050			2	–	14	–	2		.167
† – Conference champion ‡ – 2023 ACC Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA Tournament Source: The ACC As of December 5, 2023 Rankings from United Soccer Coaches Poll

The 2023 Duke Blue Devils women's soccer team represented Duke University during the 2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer season. The Blue Devils were led by head coach Robbie Church, in his twenty-third season. They played home games at Koskinen Stadium. This was the team's 36th season playing organized women's college soccer and their 35th playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Blue Devils started the season ranked 4th in the nation but faltered with a second game loss to then number 24 USC. They won their next game before falling to number 3 Stanford in California. They won their remaining two non-conference games to finish the non-conference season 4–2–0. They started ACC play with a win on September 17, but would not win another ACC game until October 19. Over that stretch, they would lose to Notre Dame, draw unranked NC State and Virginia, lose to Pittsburgh and draw their rivalry game against then number 1 North Carolina. They would lose three of their last four games. Their regular season record versus teams ranked was 0–5–1.

The Blue Devils finished 6–7–3 overall and 2–5–3 in ACC play to finish in a tie for tenth place. They did not qualify for the ACC Tournament and were not invited to the NCAA Tournament. This marked the first time since 2014 Duke had not been invited to the NCAA Tournament and first time since 2015 they had not qualified for the ACC Tournament. Their six overall wins were the lowest in program history.

Previous season

Main article: 2022 Duke Blue Devils women's soccer team

The Blue Devils finished the season with a 15–5–3 overall and 6–2–2 in ACC play to finish in a tie for fourth place. As the fifth-seed in the ACC Tournament, they defeated fourth-seed Virginia in the first round, but lost to North Carolina in the semifinal. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, where they were the second seed in the Alabama Bracket. They defeated Radford in the first round, seventh-seed Texas in the second round, and third-seed South Carolina in the round of 16 before falling in overtime to first-seed Alabama in the quarterfinals.

Offseason

Departures

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Reason for Departure
Sara Piper	5	MF	5'8"	Senior	The Woodlands, Texas	Graduated
Sophie Jones	7	MF	5'5"	Senior	Menlo Park, California	Graduated; drafted 43rd overall in the 2023 NWSL Draft
Julia Burnell	11	MF	5'5"	Senior	Glen Mills, Pennsylvania	Graduated
Emmy Duerr	13	FW	5'4"	Senior	Cary, North Carolina	Graduated
Julia Hannon	14	MF	5'7"	Senior	Massapequa, New York	Graduated
Michelle Cooper	18	FW	5'3"	Sophomore	Clarkston, Michigan	Drafted 2nd overall in the 2023 NWSL Draft
Delaney Graham	22	MF	5'6"	Graduate Student	Atlanta, GA	Graduated; drafted 40th overall in the 2023 NWSL Draft
Mackenzie Pluck	24	MF	5'4"	Graduate Student	North Wales, Pennsylvania	Graduated
Jenna Royson	25	DF	5'8"	Graduate Student	Toms River, New Jersey	Graduated
Ruthie Jones	26	GK	6'0"	Senior	Charlotte, North Carolina	Graduated

Incoming Transfers

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Leah Freeman	0	GK	5'10"	Senior	Berkeley, California	Oregon [1]
Julia Saunicheva	11	FW	5'10"	Sophomore	San Jose, California	UCLA [2]
Kati Druzina	14	MF/DF	5'6"	Graduate Student	Kirtland, Ohio	Notre Dame [3]

Recruiting Class

Source: ^[4]

Name	Nationality	Hometown	Club	TDS Rating
Sam Bodensteiner DF		Inverness, Illinois	Sockers FC	[5]
Kiera Clemens MF		Raleigh, North Carolina	NC Courage	[6]
Bianca Dominguez GK		Hercules, California	FC Bay Area	[7]
Madison Foxhoven FW		Calabasas, California	LAFC So Cal	[8]
Phoebe Goldthwaite MF		Durham, North Carolina	NC Courage	[9]
Kaeden Koons-Perdikis DF		Chevy Chase, Maryland	Bethesda SC	[10]
Mia Minestrella FW		Redondo Beach, California	Beach FC (CA)	[11]
Cameron Roller DF		Sherman, Texas	Solar Soccer Club	[12]

Squad

Roster

As of November 20, 2023 ^[13]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 0 GK   USA Leah Freeman 1 GK   USA Caroline Duffy 2 FW   USA Kat Rader 3 DF   SEN Dieynaba Ndaw 4 DF   USA Baleigh Bruster 5 DF   USA Phoebe Goldthwaite 6 MF   USA Devin Lynch 7 DF   USA Cameron Roller 8 FW   USA Elle Piper 9 FW   USA Grace Watkins 10 FW   USA Olivia Migli 11 FW   USA Julia Saunicheva 12 MF   USA Taylor Evans

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 FW   USA Mia Minestrella 14 MF   USA Kati Druzina 15 DF   USA Emily Royson 16 MF   USA Carina Lageyre 17 DF   USA Nicole Chico 19 MF   USA Maggie Graham 20 DF   USA Kelly Wilson 21 DF   USA Katie Groff 22 DF   USA Sam Bodensteiner 23 MF   USA Kiera Clemens 24 DF   USA Kaeden Koons-Perdikis 25 FW   USA Madison Foxhoven 26 GK   USA Bianca Dominguez

Team management

Position	Staff
Head coach	Robbie Church
Assistant coach	Kieran Hall
Assistant coach	Carla Overbeck
Assistant coach	Lane Davis

Source: ^[13]

Schedule

Source: ^[14]

Date Time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (Attendance) City, State
Exhibition
August 7* 4:30 p.m.	No. 4	Wake Forest	W  2–0	—	Koskinen Stadium Durham, NC
August 10* 5:00 p.m.	No. 4	No. 12  South Carolina	W  2–1	—	Stone Stadium Columbia, SC
Non-Conference Regular season
August 17* 7:00 p.m.,  ACCNX	No. 4	West Virginia	W  2–0	1–0–0	Koskinen Stadium (553) Durham, NC
August 24* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 4	No. 24  USC	L  1–3	1–1–0	Koskinen Stadium (803) Durham, NC
August 27* 12:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 4	Wisconsin	W  2–1	2–1–0	Koskinen Stadium (701) Durham, NC
September 2* 10:00 p.m.,  P12N+	No. 10	at No. 3  Stanford	L  0–4	2–2–0	Laird Q. Cagan Stadium (2,154) Stanford, CA
September 7* 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 14	East Carolina	W  2–0	3–2–0	Koskinen Stadium (531) Durham, NC
September 11* 6:30 p.m.,  ESPN+	No. 14	at  UNC Greensboro	W  1–0	4–2–0	UNCG Soccer Stadium (562) Greensboro, NC
ACC Regular season
September 17 1:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 15	at  Boston College	W  2–0	5–2–0 (1–0–0)	Newton Campus Soccer Field (627) Chestnut Hill, MA
September 21 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 16	No. 10  Notre Dame	L  1–2	5–3–0 (1–1–0)	Koskinen Stadium (803) Durham, NC
September 24 6:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 16	NC State	T  0–0	5–3–1 (1–1–1)	Koskinen Stadium (786) Durham, NC
October 1 12:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 17	at  Virginia	T  1–1	5–3–2 (1–1–2)	Klöckner Stadium (1,817) Charlottesville, VA
October 5 7:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 22	at  Pittsburgh	L  1–2	5–4–2 (1–2–2)	Ambrose Urbanic Field (958) Pittsburgh, PA
October 8 4:00 p.m., ACCN	No. 22	No. 1  North Carolina Rivalry	T  1–1	5–4–3 (1–2–3)	Koskinen Stadium (3,467) Durham, NC
October 13 5:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 23	No. 7  Clemson	L  0–1	5–5–3 (1–3–3)	Koskinen Stadium (1,457) Durham, NC
October 19 7:00 p.m., ACCNX		at  Virginia Tech	W  1–0	6–5–3 (2–3–3)	Thompson Field (210) Blacksburg, VA
October 22 1:00 p.m., ACCNX		No. 1  Florida State	L  0–4	6–6–3 (2–4–3)	Koskinen Stadium (803) Durham, NC
October 26 6:00 p.m., ACCNX	No. 25т	at  Louisville	L  0–1	6–7–3 (2–5–3)	Lynn Stadium (405) Louisville, KY
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from United Soccer Coaches. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Awards and honors

Recipient	Award	Date	Ref.
Kat Rader	Preseason All-ACC Team	August 10	[15]
Leah Freeman	Hermann Trophy Preseason Watchlist	August 17	[16]
Carina Lageyre	ACC Offensive Player of the Week	September 19	[17]
Kat Rader	All-ACC Second Team	November 1	[18]
Leah Freeman	All-ACC Third Team
Cameron Roller	All-ACC Freshman Team

Rankings

See also: 2023 NCAA Division I women's soccer rankings

Ranking movements
Legend:██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
United Soccer [19]	4	4	10	14	15	16	17	22	23	RV	25т	—	Not released				—
TopDrawer Soccer [20]	8	7	10	12	8	7	19	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

References

1. "Women's Soccer Adds Transfer Leah Freeman". goduke.com. Duke University. January 9, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
2. "Church Welcomes Saunicheva as Final Piece for 2023 Roster". goduke.com. Duke University. June 14, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
3. "Church Adds Kati Druzina to 2023 Roster". goduke.com. Duke University. March 13, 2023. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
4. "Church Adds Another Stellar Group in 2023 Signing Class". goduke.com. Duke University Athletics. December 22, 2022. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
5. "Sam Bodensteiner". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
6. "Kiera Clemens". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
7. "Bianca Dominguez". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
8. "Madison Foxhoven". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
9. "Phoebe Goldthwaite". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
10. "Kaeden Koons-Perdikis". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
11. "Mia Minestrella". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
12. "Cameron Roller". topdrawersoccer.com. Top Drawer Soccer. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
13. "2023 Women's Soccer Roster". goduke.com. Duke University Athletics. Retrieved November 20, 2023.
14. "2023 Women's Soccer Schedule". Duke Blue Devils Athletics. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
15. "North Carolina Named 2023 ACC Women's Soccer Preseason Favorite". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. August 10, 2023. Retrieved August 10, 2023.
16. "2023 Women's Hermann Trophy Watch List Announced". unitedsoccercoaches.org. United Soccer Coaches. August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
17. "Duke's Lageyre, UNC's Bell Named ACC Women's Soccer Players of the Week". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. September 19, 2023. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
18. "2023 All-ACC Women's Soccer Awards Announced". theacc.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
19. "United Soccer Coaches Top 25 NCAA DI Women — National". unitedsoccercoaches.org. United Soccer Coaches. December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
20. "College Soccer National Rankings". TopDrawer Soccer. TopDrawer Soccer. December 5, 2023. Retrieved December 5, 2023.