The 5th ranked Duke women’s soccer team didn’t go 2-0, but they still had a good week. The Blue Devils won at NC State on Thursday, 3-0.

They were the aggressor throughout the first half, but most of their scoring opportunities came off Wolfpack turnovers. At the end of the first half, Duke out-shot NC State, 9-4, but only led 1-0. In the end, they out-shot the Wolfpack, 18-4.

In the victory, Laura Weinberg scored her 15th goal of the season. Cassie Pecht and Katie Trees also added goals.

The Blue Devils then ended the week with a tie against number 12 Wake Forest on “Pink Day” (they wore pink jerseys).

Duke took six of the first seven shots, but could not put the ball in the net. Wake Forest however, did. Katie Stengel scored on a penalty kick at the 42:51 mark.

In the second half, play was a little rough, as their were nine fouls over the first 13 minutes. At the 71:13 mark, Duke subbed to get more players up front. Less than three minutes later, the move worked. Weinberg made a perfect cross into the box where Kim DeCesare headed it in to tie the match at 1-1. It was her 11th goal of the season, fifth in ACC matches, and third goal in three games.

Duke out-shot Wake, 16-14. The Demon Deacons had only given up nine goals all season.

Duke is now 11-3-2 on the season and 5-2-2 in the ACC. They close out ACC play on Thursday night against rival North Carolina.

*************************************************************************

» Continue reading “Duke Women’s Soccer Has Good Week”

Laura Weinberg scored three goals and dished out one assist this past week for the 7th ranked Duke women’s soccer team en route to their victories over two ranked ACC opponents. That performance earned her a spot on the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team for the week.

In Thursday’s 3-2 overtime victory over 15h ranked Virginia Tech, Weinberg scored two goals, including the game winner 6:42 into play in the first overtime.

In Duke’s 4-2 victory over 13th ranked Boston College, Weinberg delivered the assist to the game winning goal by Kim DeCesare. She also scored a goal in the second half that gave Duke a 2-1 lead over BC.

Weinberg now leads the ACC with 14 goals and is fifth all-time on Duke’s single-season list.

The Blue Devils improved to 10-3-1 overall and 4-2-1 in the ACC.

Next up, the women will make the short trip to play NC State on Thursday night. The game will be televised on ESPN3.

************************************************************************

» Continue reading “Duke’s Weinberg Does It Again”

The Duke women’s soccer team beat Clemson 3-0 on Thursday. They extended their home winning streak to 20 games.

Laura Weinberg scored two goals. She now has 11 goals in 11 matches.

Duke out-shot Clemson 31-4.

However, they lost at number 3 Virginia on Sunday, 1-0. With less than three minutes to go, UVA scored the game’s only goal. The Blue Devils have not beaten UVA in Charlottesville during the regular season since 1996.

Duke out-shot the Cavaliers, 19-14. Gilda Doria had five shots. Tara Campbell made five saves in the loss.

The Blue Devils are now 8-3-1 overall and 2-2-1 in the ACC. Next up, they travel to Virginia Tech for a Thursday night match.

*************************************************************************

» Continue reading “Duke Women’s Soccer Split, Men Lose Heartbreakers”

The Duke men’s and women’s soccer teams both played one game this past week and both teams came away with a tie.

Let’s start with the men.

Their first game of the week, against UNC Greensboro, was cancelled due to bad weather. They then matched up against number 16 Wake Forest in an ACC matchup.

The two teams battled to a 0-0 draw in double overtime. Blue Devils goalie James Belshaw, coming off earning RMHC Duke Athlete of the Week, ACC Player of the Week, and Disney Soccer/NSCAA National Player of the Week, made eight saves to stretch Duke’s shutout streak to 322:45.

Both teams had two shots in the first overtime, including one each on goal. Wake had the only shot on goal in the second overtime (in the final thirty seconds), but it bounced off the right post and out.

Wake had 17 shots, while Duke had just seven. They also had 12 corner kicks to just two for Duke.

The Demon Deacons are 4-1-3 overall, but just 0-0-3 in ACC play. Duke is 3-3-1 overall and 1-1-1 in ACC play.

Duke next plays UNC Wilmington on Tuesday before playing ACC rival North Carolina on Friday night.

Now on to the women.

» Continue reading “Duke Men’s, Women’s Soccer Battle to Draws”

The Duke men’s soccer team finished last week with a 2-0 record to improve to 3-3-0 overall.

First, they beat Georgia State, 3-0 on Tuesday. It was their first three-goal performance of the season and matched their season total over the first four games. Sebastien Ibeagha had his first career two-goal game.

Georgia State had the better first half, but couldn’t convert the shots into goals. They out-shot Duke 6-1.

Then the Blue Devils won their ACC home opener, 2-0 over Clemson. It was their second consecutive shutout.

Riley Wolfe and James Belshaw both scored in the second half. Belshaw, the Duke goalie, scored on a penalty kick, his first goal of his career. He also had six saves.

Next up, Duke hosts UNC-Greensboro on Tuesday before heading to Wake Forest on September 21st.

************************************************************************

» Continue reading “Duke Men’s Soccer 2-0 Last Week”

The Duke women’s soccer team, ranked fourth in the country, won both of their games this past weekend.

Those two victories brought weekly honors to Gilda Doria and Laura Weinberg. Both were named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week. Both were also named to the Duke Nike Classic All-Tournament Team.

Doria scored twice in the Blue Devils 4-1 victory on Friday against San Diego. On Sunday, she scored in the 79th minute to secure the win over 8th ranked Marquette (following back-to-back goals by Marquette).

Weinberg scored three goals and contributed an assist in the Duke Nike Classic. She scored the game-winning goal on Friday night in the 24th minute, as Duke scored three straight. On Sunday, she scored back-to-back goals to open the game against Marquette in their 5-2 victory.

Next up for the women, they begin ACC action at number one Florida State on Thursday night at 7pm ET on ESPN3.

***************************************************************************

» Continue reading “Duke Women’s Soccer Victorious Over Weekend”

While out in California participating in the USC Futbol Classic, the Duke women’s soccer team went 2-0 and junior Kim DeCesares earned a top honor.

DeCesares was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team for the second time in three weeks. She scored three goals.

Down 1-0 to USC, DeCesares scored two goals in a span of seven minutes in the second half to lead the Blue Devils to a 2-1 victory over USC. On Sunday, she scored the eventual game winning goal in the 23rd minute in Duke’s 4-0 win over Washington State.

Next up for the women is playing host to the Duke Nike Classic. The Blue Devils will face San Diego at 7:30pm ET on Friday, with UNC playing Marquette earlier.

***************************************************************************

The Duke men’s soccer team picked up their first win of the season on Sunday against Delaware, 2-1. The Blue Devils lost to Santa Clara, 2-1 on Friday night as part of the Nike Invitational.

In a two minute span on Sunday, the Blue Devils picked up two goals, including the game winning goal from freshman Luis Rendon.

Senior goalie James Belshaw and junior center back Sebastien Ibeagha represented Duke on the John Rennie Nike Invitational All-Tournament Team. NC State won the tourney with a 2-0 record.

Next up for the men is a road trip to Virginia to play the Cavaliers on Friday, September 7th.

Fall athletics kicked into full swing this weekend at Duke. Things didn’t go that well.

The number one ranked women’s soccer team beat Montreal 5-1 on Friday night in the UNC Nike Classic. Coach Robbie Church was disappointed with how his team started the game and played the first half. However, the Blue Devils completely dominated the second half.

Duke outshot Montreal, 26-1.

However the Blue Devils fell to number 20 Florida on Sunday, 3-2 in OT. They took an early 2-0 lead and dominated the first 20 minutes. However the Gators went on a 3-0 run, which was the most the Blue Devils have allowed since October of 2010.

Defender Natasha Anasi felt that they had some mental lapses after they took the 2-0 lead and good teams will make them pay. It was another game that Coach Church was disappointed about.

The Blue Devils head out to southern California to play in the Trojan Invitational on August 31st. They will face USC.

************************************************************************

The men’s soccer team lost their season opener on Saturday night to number 18 Notre Dame, 1-0. The Blue Devils were solid on defense, but the Irish scored a goal in the 76th minute. Goalie James Belshaw had seven saves.

Duke’s first shot on goal didn’t come until there were 17 minutes left in the opening half.

The Blue Devils started seven underclassman, with ten playing overall.

They open their home schedule in the John Rennie Invitational on August 31st against Santa Clara.

» Continue reading “Tough Weekend for Duke Athletics”

As freshman were moving into their dorms on the Duke campus, the fall athletic schedule was already underway.

The women’s soccer team started out with two victories over the weekend. On Friday, the Blue Devils beat 20th ranked William & Mary, 4-1. On Sunday, they beat Elon, 8-0. They are ranked second in the nation.

Redshirt junior Kim DeCesare earned ACC Player of the Week honors after scoring three goals and collecting two assists. She started at center forward for the first time in her career.

Her play over the two victories also earned her the Ronald McDonald House Charities Duke Student-Athlete of the Week and TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the week.

The women’s soccer team next plays the University of Montreal on Friday (August 24th) and Florida on Sunday (August 26th) as part of the UNC Classic in Chapel Hill, NC.

*************************************************************************

James Belshaw, Duke’s senior goalie, was named to College Soccer News Preseason All-American team when they announced their 33 man team on Monday. He was named to the second team and is team captain for the second straight season.

» Continue reading “Duke Fall Athletics Get Underway”

Duke will be well represented this summer on a variety of US teams.

Incoming freshman Rasheed Sulaimon was named to the USA men’s basketball U18 National Team. After more than a week of training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he made the final cut of 12 (from 23 players).

Sulaimon and his US U18 teammates will compete in the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship from June 16-20 in Sao Sebastiáo do Paraiso, Brazil. He will be playing for current Florida head coach Billy Donovan, Gonzaga head coach Mark Few, and VCU head coach Shaka Smart.

In the McDonald’s All-American Game, he won the three-point shootout.

Rising junior Natasha Anasi rejoined the U23 Women’s National Soccer Team. They will travel to Norway for a Three Nations Tournamennt featuring the US, Norway, and Sweden.

They will face Sweden on June 15th, followed by matches against Norway (June 17th and June 19th).

This past season, Anasi was named to the first team All-America and the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Stefanie Fee, a 2012 Duke graduate, was named to the US National Field Hockey Team. However she was not named to the 16 member Olympic Team.

She talks about how she got the news:

“After our game [in the Women's National Championship], I was walking to go hit the locker room and I walked by Lee [Bodimeade] and he pulled me aside,” Fee recalled.  “My heart started pounding and I had no idea what to expect.  He told me that I had been selected to the 2012-13 National Squad and shook my hand.  I was pretty much shocked and ecstatic.   I don’t remember anything he said after that point.”