Most Duke students are still finishing up internships or are a few weeks away from returning to campus, but the No. 3 Blue Devils are set to kick off one of the most anticipated seasons in program history.
After beginning practice last week, Duke will host Missouri in its only exhibition matchup Thursday at 5 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils open the regular season next Friday against Wofford as part of the UNC Nike Classic.
Duke returns 10 of 11 starters and almost 90 percent of its scoring from the team that made it to the national championship game. The Blue Devils also brought in one of the nation's top recruiting classes, highlighted by top-15 recruits Mia Gyau and Ella Stevens. The only key piece missing for Duke Thursday when the Blue Devils take on a team that missed the NCAA tournament last season will be senior defender and midfielder Rebecca Quinn, who is starting for the Canadian national team in the Olympics.
“This is my 16th season, and it’s definitely our deepest team that we’ve ever had, and it’s been our most competitive team in training up to this point,” Duke head coach Robbie Church said. “Nobody’s mentioned anything about our team rankings, expectations…. We’re aiming to be the best training team in the country right now.”
To Church's point, the Blue Devils had three players—seniors Quinn, Toni Payne and Christina Gibbons— named to the preseason watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, which is awarded to the nation's top player. Duke and Florida were the only teams with three players on the list.
After finishing last season 14-6-5 overall and 4-3-3 in the ACC, the Blue Devils were picked to finish third in the loaded conference this year by the league's coaches. A third straight top-six recruiting class could push Duke past other ACC powers like Florida State, Virginia and North Carolina, however.
Gyau was the No. 7 recruit in the Class of 2016 and Stevens earned Gatorade National Player of the Year honors and was ranked 11th in the class.
The challenge for Church and his staff now is finding the right group of players with the regular season rapidly approaching. That is where Thursday's game could come in handy.
“We’ve got to get our core group of players down,” Church said. "We’ll probably sub a lot [tomorrow], and there’s going to be a lot of combinations.”
Many of the returning Blue Devils have spent plenty of time playing together throughout the summer. Fifteen traveled to China to participate in the seventh annual Consultation on People-to-People Exchange. Duke played Beijing Normal University twice in three days—tying it 1-1 in the first game and falling 6-3 in the second when the Chinese squad featured some players from its national team.
Thursday's game will be the first time the Blue Devil freshmen and stars like Gibbons and Payne compete against another opponent, though. The freshmen were unable to travel to China because of NCAA rules and Gibbons and Payne were competing with the U.S. U-23 national team.
Although Duke will be without Quinn against a team that returns eight starters and averaged 1.3 goals per game last year, the Blue Devils got an unexpected boost earlier this summer when sophomore midfielder Taylor Racioppi decided to skip the U-20 World Cup. Racioppi, who led Duke with 20 points last year as a freshman, was expected to compete in the international event this fall and redshirt, but announced that she would spend the 2016 season in Durham instead.
The Blue Devils will also see the return of junior defender Schuyler DeBree. The Fair Haven, N.J., native started during her first two seasons before tearing her left ACL at Boston College Sept. 24 and watching the final 14 games of the year on the sidelines. Led by goalkeeper E.J. Proctor, Duke's defense was still the team's strength, only allowing 0.6 goals per game in DeBree's absence. Proctor will again anchor the Blue Devil defense this season as a junior.
Unlike the Blue Devils, Missouri is simply hoping to build momentum toward an NCAA tournament berth after missing the postseason last year with a 9-5-5 record. With eight returning starters, however, the Tigers could give Duke specific aspects of the game to work on a week before the Blue Devils' regular-season opener.
“Not only do you get to play against somebody else, but exhibition games give you a chance to get video on your team, and that gives you a chance to break it down next weekend and bring them in for individual meeting,” Church said. “That’s important in the learning process.”
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