The fall season has arrived at Duke, meaning that a host of Blue Devil teams are preparing for season debuts or have recently begun their schedules. With that, The Chronicle previews the Duke teams to keep an eye on throughout the fall. Click each subheading below for the full preview and make sure to follow along with us for Duke athletics coverage throughout the year.
Editor's note: This article was updated to include The Chronicle's cross country preview after its publication Sept. 2. The Chronicle's football preview can be found here.
Women's soccer
Each of Duke's past two seasons has ended the same: a tough loss in the NCAA quarterfinals, tantalizingly close to a return to the College Cup. This season is not shaping up to be more of the same.
“We definitely felt like we fell short last year,” senior Sophie Jones told The Chronicle. “But that just fuels our fire and makes us that much more excited to try and get back there this year. I think that really motivates us every day and is definitely in the back of our minds.”
Despite not getting to Santa Clara, Calif., last November, the 2022 Blue Devils enter the year as heralded as any team in program history; their preseason No. 2 ranking is tied with 2011 and 2015 for their highest-ever—two years in which Duke finished the season as the national runner-up.
A host of factors have contributed to perch Duke on the precipice of greatness: A deep pool of talent graduating from the collegiate ranks to the NWSL; the Blue Devils retaining two of their five senior starters, ensuring they'd suffer less than other teams; a strong incoming class across the country, and Duke securing the No. 3 recruiting class; the continued loosening of North Carolina’s stranglehold on recruiting; and most notably, chaotic upheaval at Florida State.
To top it all off, a third conference title for head coach Robbie Church looks within reach. Florida State is the preseason No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll, but the coaches’ poll often relies too much on last year's results and doesn't reflect strong changeover (see: Stanford down at No. 21); the Seminoles were only projected to finish fourth in-conference by the ACC coaches. No. 10 North Carolina enters the year with a plethora of talent, but a similar plethora of questions about which players can headline a top-flight team. No. 4 Virginia’s front line graduated the best forward in the ACC and its projected leading goal-scorer is coming off an ACL tear.
Scheduling, for once, is lending the Blue Devils a bit of a helping hand. Duke gets to ramp up its conference play against progressively tougher opponents (Syracuse, Boston College, and N.C. State) before a home match against Virginia. The Blue Devils then get a couple of lighter opponents at home (Pittsburgh, Wake Forest) before heading to Tallahassee, Fla. That should help the team along, following what Church has once again ensured is one of the toughest non-conference slates in the country. -Em Adler
READ MORE on the start of Duke's season:
No. 2 Duke women's soccer kicks off season with shutout win at East Carolina
No. 2 Duke women’s soccer takes down UNC Greensboro in home opener
Men's soccer
In 2022, Duke faces the tough task of following up a 2021 season in which it lost just three regular-season matches, went to the ACC championship and made it to the third round of the NCAA tournament. Despite the tall order, the Blue Devils, ranked No. 12 nationally, are in a good position to repeat under the leadership of head coach John Kerr.
On the back half of the pitch, they bring back graduate goaltender Eliot Hamill after his career year and a once young, now veteran defensive core of juniors Amir Daley, Lewis McGarvey and Antino Lopez. Meanwhile, they also return sophomore forward and assist machine Shakur Mohammed, as well as 2022 major award watch list staple Peter Stroud, a junior midfielder. This is not to mention a host of other talented returnees coming into their own and a promising crop of rookies.
However, Duke is still left with a Thorleifur Ulfarsson-sized hole in the roster. The 2021 ACC Offensive Player of the Year and MAC Hermann semifinalist left for the MLS after tallying a conference-leading 15 goals in just 16 games last season. While Ulfarsson’s departure certainly presents a major challenge for the team, the key for the Blue Devils will be a whole-team effort to fill the gap and score goals rather than any one player recreating the magic. And with plenty of skill up and down the roster and a proven system, Duke should have the ability to rise to that challenge.
As it stands, the Blue Devils are coming off of two exhibition games in which they won by a combined margin of 10-1 after tying their first exhibition 1-1 against South Carolina, so it seems like they’re on the right track. However, the ACC is one of the toughest conferences for men’s soccer in the nation, and with the likes of defending conference champion Notre Dame and perennial powerhouse Pittsburgh on Duke’s docket, it’s hard to say what ends the team can achieve. All that’s promised is a 2022 season that is competitive and fun to watch. -Sasha Richie
Volleyball
For those who followed Duke’s squad last year, be prepared to see plenty of unfamiliar faces on the court as the season takes off. Duke has added seven freshmen and two graduate transfers to its roster, meaning that much of the preseason has been about “trying to do a lot of work together and working on getting to know each other,” head coach Jolene Nagel told The Chronicle. The trajectory of the season will depend on how well the Blue Devils can work as a cohesive team and establish their dynamic early on in the season.
But despite the wealth of new freshmen on the team, Duke’s performance in its exhibition match Saturday against Davidson was characterized by a strong sense of maturity. Duke faltered from behind the service line throughout the game: “They didn’t let it fall into their all-around performance,” Nagel said. “And I thought that was growth for us as a team.” Although the Blue Devils often fell apart toward the end of close sets last season, defeating the Wildcats 25-23 in three of Saturday’s sets demonstrates that perhaps the leadership on this year’s squad has helped Duke learn to settle its play and navigate through these situations more smoothly.
The Blue Devils are not short on talent this year, and “the gym has been very competitive” so far as preseason practices continue, according to Nagel. Plenty of the new freshmen hail from high schools that have frequently seen state championships and club teams that are always contenders on the national circuit; returning players, too, have gained experience and improved as the team has continued to work since last season, Nagel said. In all, Duke has a deep and versatile roster this year, so one can expect plenty of players to see the court each game. Some roster aspects to watch out for are how graduate transfer Devon Chang and senior Cami Nazor share the court as the team’s dominant setters and how Duke will keep its offensive presence strong from the outside with the departure of former star outside hitter Ade Owokoniran.
The ACC has proven to be a strong conference in NCAA volleyball—Louisville and Pittsburgh both earned Final Four bids in 2021—and Duke has the potential to improve on its 7-11 record from last year if it can better capitalize on sets against competitive teams, like Miami and Georgia Tech. It’s a matter of how long it takes the squad to work together and find that potential. -Leah Boyd
Field hockey
The new turf at Jack Katz Stadium represents a fresh start for this year's Duke team. It is the first season since 2019 in which the Blue Devils have been able to return to a normal spring schedule without pandemic restrictions.
"It's huge, absolutely huge," head coach Pam Bustin said. "We feel so much more connected and prepared coming into this fall than we have since the 2019 fall." Bustin shared how the continuous fall/spring schedule "took a toll on us as a program and as individuals." This past spring brought back the opportunity for physical and mental recovery to set the tone for the upcoming season.
Duke will have to overcome others’ expectations this fall. Tuesday, the NFHCA released its preseason rankings, with the Blue Devils ranked 18th. They are coming off of a season in which they fell to the bottom of the ACC standings after going 0-6 in conference play. However, both a return to normal practice and fresh faces create potential for Duke to be a contender in field hockey.
There will be nine new players to the Duke program—six freshmen and three transfers. Some of the incoming group will have to fill in holes on defense left by recent graduates Lexi Davidson, Caroline Hanan and Grace Kim.
"That was one of the things we had to address in the spring clearly because we did lose a lot of experience back there," said Bustin. She foresees that a strong defense will be one that is “a collaborative group” where each player knows their role, communicates and holds each other accountable.
Ahead of the season's official start Friday, Duke played a couple of preseason exhibition games against VCU and North Carolina. Bustin seems to like what she saw from her team then: "We haven’t had a group as energized," Bustin said. “It's not always perfect, but they're playing hard and wanting to figure it out.”
This year can be a rebound for Duke after a couple of tough seasons during the pandemic. With a fresh turf and new players, the potential is there for a turnaround from last season's record.
The Blue Devils start off the season Friday at 1 p.m. at Rutgers. -Suresh Kannoth
Cross country
It was a tough year for the Blue Devils in 2021. After a 16th-place showing at the 2020 NCAA Championships for the men’s team and a fourth-place finish for the recently-departed Michaela Reinhart at the ACC Championships the same year, Duke looked to be on the up. The addition of Nick Dahl last season promised to fortify the Blue Devils’ top seven on the men’s side and the growth of then-sophomore Charlotte Tomkinson gave the women’s team an extra asset in its leading pack. Head coach Angela Reckart was entering her first season at the helm after leaving her post at Penn State as well. Long story short, there was some turnover for Duke, but the energy and expectations were high.
The team’s lofty ambitions fell short by season’s end, however, with both the men’s and women’s groups missing the NCAA Championships via a seventh- and ninth-place conference finish, respectively. Reinhart and Tomkinson snagged positions 14 and 16 while graduate student Josh Romine got 21st to earn the trio All-ACC honors, but the team will be disappointed to have ended its season below its potential and outside the national field in Tallahassee, Fla.
“When I accepted the job last year and got to work here at Duke, my goals for the program were to have both teams on the starting line at the [NCAA Championships],” Reckart told The Chronicle. “And at the ACC level, the ACC is extremely competitive. I think both men and women had five teams at the national championships last year. So, I think if you're a top-five to a top-three team, you're doing very well.”
Coming into 2022, Romine and Reinhart—the latter of whom has joined as an assistant coach, Reckart said—have departed and Reckart enters her second full season as head coach. Both the men’s and women’s teams have brought in a slew of talented freshmen and have eyes toward the future. -Andrew Long
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