Speak of the Blue Devils: No. 7 women’s soccer falls to No. 1 Duke
On Thursday night in its annual pink match for breast cancer awareness, No. 7 Stanford women’s soccer (11-2-1, 3-2-1 ACC) fell to the No. 1 Duke Blue Devils (10-1-0, 5-0-0 ACC) in a 4-1 loss. Prior to the defeat, the Cardinal were unbeaten in 34 straight home matches at Cagan Stadium (32-0-2) dating back to Oct. 3, 2021. The match was Duke’s first-ever win at Stanford.
In the fourth meeting on the Farm between the two teams, Duke came out swinging, with captain Maggie Graham scoring twice just 14 seconds apart. The first came at minute 3:53 when forward Ella Hase cut through the Stanford box and layed in a cross for Graham to connect with the back of the net. Just seconds later, Graham intercepted a pass at the top of the Stanford box and tapped in another goal.
“It was a really bad start to the game, and I think that set the tone for the whole match,” said head coach Paul Ratcliffe.
“We just needed to be more aggressive as a group. I thought we were very passive to start, and I think we paid the price for that.”
The momentum of the match was leaning in Duke’s favor, until the Cardinal worked their way back into the game when freshman midfielder Eleanor Klinger assisted sophomore midfielder Shae Harvey for a header that bounced over the goal line in the 33rd minute.
The Cardinal were aggressive to start the second half, putting up five shots in the first five minutes, with close attempts on goal by freshman forward Jaden Thomas, redshirt junior forward Andrea Kitahata and junior forward Allie Montoya.
Unphased by Stanford’s change of pace, the Blue Devils went back on offense and bumped up their lead to 3-1 in the 60th minute on a sequence between Graham and Mia Oliaro to assist forward Devin Lynch for the finish.
The final blow came in the 66th minute after Graham scored her third goal of the night, securing a hat trick.
There was a glimpse of hope in the 76th minute when the Cardinal earned a penalty kick in the Duke box, but were not able to convert after a save by Duke goalie Leah Freeman.
Duke’s four goals are the most allowed by Stanford this season, and the most since the 5-1 loss in the 2023 national title match to then-No. 1 Florida State.
Despite the loss, Stanford’s talent shined through with strong play by junior defender Elise Evans playing all 90 minutes on the back line, along with freshman defender Lizzie Boamah and sophomore midfielder Mia Bhuta weaving through the defense to create plays for the Cardinal.
Stanford put up 16 shots to Duke’s 13, with eight on target and six corners.
“To outshoot the number one team in the country says something, but we didn’t play to our potential and it was a disappointing result,” Ratcliffe said.
The Cardinal drop to to 3-2-1 in conference play for its inaugural season in the ACC, and will have another ranked matchup on Sunday when they host No. 2 North Carolina.
“I think it will be a tough match against UNC on Sunday. We’re going to have to really change our mentality, intensity and approach and play really well to get a positive result,” Ratcliffe said.
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