Stock Watch: Duke women's soccer pulls off stunning upset

The bell of the Blue Zone stock exchange has just rung again, meaning it's time to take another look at who is rising and falling with their performances for Blue Devil sports teams. Each week The Blue Zone will look at whose stock is on the rise and whose stock has taken a hit from the week in the world of Duke athletics.

Bull Market—Trending up

Duke women’s soccer—The Blue Devils traveled to Chapel Hill Friday night and beat No. 5 North Carolina for the first time since 2005 and just the third time in program history. Sophomore midfielder Imani Dorsey scored the only goal of the game late in the first half off an assist from Ashton Miller, and goalkeeper E.J. Miller had four saves to shut out the Tar Heels. It was an important breakthrough win for Duke, who dominated play against Louisville last Friday but couldn’t find the back of the net in a scoreless tie. The Blue Devils will look to continue their momentum into a three-game home-stand to end the regular season.

Marshall Plumlee—For much of the redshirt senior’s career at Duke, he has merely been an energy-booster off the bench, overshadowed by more-skilled big men like Jahlil Okafor and his older brother Mason. But with the Blue Devils lacking frontcourt depth this year, Plumlee embraced the spotlight and stole the show in Duke’s blue-white scrimmage during Countdown to Craziness Saturday night. The Warsaw, Ind., native’s thunderous dunk over freshman Antonio Vrankovic set the tone early on, and Plumlee finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. His confidence and leadership on the court will be vital for this year’s young team.

Women’s basketball interest—When the Blue Devils’ women’s team was introduced at Countdown to Craziness Saturday night, head coach Joanne P. McCallie had quite the surprise in store for the Cameron Crazies. Her promise of $1,000 out of her own pocket to the craziest fan at Duke’s Nov. 22 game against Army attracted the attention of everyone at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Although it is a bit disheartening that the head coach of a top-ten ranked program in a revenue sport needs to bribe students to support her team, the Blue Devils are now guaranteed an enthusiastic student section in at least one of their games this season

Bear Market—Trending Down

Dunk contests—Countdown to Craziness has ended with a dunk contest several times in the past, and word of mouth led many students to believe there would be another such competition this year. But the season kickoff event concluded abruptly after the blue-white scrimmage, leaving the Cameron Crazies perplexed and disappointed that one of the night’s main attractions was omitted. The Blue Devils threw down eight dunks during the scrimmage, but fans still left the stadium clamoring for more.