The bell of the Blue Zone stock exchange has rung again, meaning it's time to take a 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 sports: An undefeated weekend for three Duke women’s teams embodies what has been an exciting fall, with two of those teams—field hockey and soccer—ranked among the best in the nation. The most consistent and arguably the most talented of all Blue Devil teams, field hockey continued its undefeated start to the season with a 2-1 victory against sixth-ranked Louisville and capped off the weekend with a 3-0 drubbing of Miami (Ohio). After dispatching two quality ACC opponents in Louisville and Virginia, Duke (8-0, 2-0 ACC) travels across town next Sunday to take on No. 3 North Carolina hoping to improve on the best start in program history in what could be the team’s most competitive game of the year.
Duke women’s soccer logged its most impressive win of the year Saturday, upending previously undefeated Boston College 3-2. The No. 9 Blue Devils (6-2-1, 1-0) will look to build momentum for the rest of the season when they take on Louisville Thursday.
In what has been an inconsistent season for Duke volleyball, the Blue Devils (6-4) enter the start of ACC play with two more tallies in the win column after dispatching Campbell 3-0 and UNC-Wilmington 3-2. Up next for Duke is Wake Forest Wednesday evening at 6:30 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Come-from-behind victories: Much of the aforementioned success resulted from a willingness to fight until the final whistle. Despite an early Boston College red card, it took two goals in the final 35 minutes to propel women’s soccer to its 3-2 victory. After swapping penalty kicks in the first half, the Eagles took the lead early on in the second before goals from Taylor Racioppi and Kayla McCoy sent the Blue Devils to their sixth win of the season. Volleyball also started slow, with UNCW dominating the first set 25-16. But Duke fought back to win the next sets 25-23 and 25-20 and dominated the fifth and final set by a score of 15-7. Such resolve should serve the Blue Devils well as ACC play starts to heat up.
Bear Market—Trending Down:
Duke football: Looking to bounce back after an uninspiring 24-14 loss to Wake Forest, the Blue Devils instead fell to Northwestern 24-13 in their first away game of the season. Penalties and turnovers were the story again for Duke, which amassed seven penalties and two giveaways. Three games into the season, the Blue Devils have yet to win the turnover battle in a game. Duke travels to South Bend this weekend to face an underperforming but talented Notre Dame team. In order to avoid slipping to 1-3, the Blue Devils will have to turn in a consistent, complete game on both sides of the ball—something they have struggled to do throughout the early stages of the season.
Duke kicking: Duke cleats need some extra polish. The men’s soccer team and freshman kicker A.J. Reed each turned in forgettable performances this weekend, continuing what appears to be a downward trend for both. Men’s soccer was clearly outmatched against Wake Forest on Friday, falling 2-0 to a formidable Demon Deacons squad. After dropping their ACC opener to Boston College last weekend, the Blue Devils look to rebound against Georgia Southern Tuesday in their first midweek game of the year.
Reed missed a 33-yard field goal and an extra point in the loss Saturday after failing to connect on two field goal attempts against Wake Forest. He may have another chance to make his first career field goal this Saturday against Notre Dame, unless he gets sidelined in favor of senior walk-on Danny Stirt.
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