I figured I'd start a thread since I never see any devoted to my beloved Blue Devils. This should be a very good season for Duke, as they are deep and loaded again, and expectations (internal/external) are very high. IMO, they should start preseason somewhere in the top 5, based on returning starters, and incoming talent. They do have to replace Gibbons (almost irreplaceable), as well as Payne and Raben. The loaded freshmen class should help with these replacements, as well as the 3 all conference players they lost to injury last season (Racioppi, Quinn and McCoy). With their depth, they could actually field a 2nd team that probably finishes top 10 in the ACC standings. My starting XI: GK: EJ Proctor CB: Schuyler DeBree CB: Rebecca Quinn (yes, technically a MF, but she's the best option to replace Raben, based off 2015 season) RB: Morgan Reid LB: Chelsea Burns HM: Olivia Erlbeck MF: Ashton Miller AM: Taylor Racioppi AM: Imani Dorsey FW: Ella Stevens FW: Kayla McCoy Should have a big year from Dorsey, Racioppi, Stevens and Quinn. There will be great competition for starting spots from GK Brooke Heinsohn, D/F Mia Gyau, MF Karlie Pashcall, D/F Malinda Allen, MF Kat McDonald. Freshmen that should contribute right away. D Taylor Mitchell, D Caitlin Cosme, MF Karlie Paschall, F Tess Boade, and F Gabi Brummett. I think they will battle UNC, FSU, UVA and Notre Dame for the top 5 spots in the ACC (which again should be brutal). Injuries ravaged Duke last year, and robbed them of what should/could have been a #1 season (talent that was returning). Hopefully this year, that doesn't happen. Only player I think of currently that is injured is reserve Sr Casey Martinez. (Saw a twitter pic of their spring game, with her in a pretty severe knee brace, might have been acl...can't confirm though). Schedule wise, they have tough non conf. games vs UNC, WVU, Auburn and Utah. The opener with UNC should be a dandy. Looking forward to it. Feel free to input any other knowledge one might have, or thoughts, predictions, etc.
Can't disagree at all with your estimation of the potential of Duke this fall. The Blue Devils are indeed oozing with talent. Robbie has the enviable situation where he could have another rash of injuries and most knowledgeable observers would not be able to discern a drop-off with the replacements. I like your proposed starting 11, but then wonder where it will come out by tournament time. I would not at all be surprised to see Heinsohn, Paschall, Gyau, and Allen starting. And Duke has such balance. The 32 member roster is almost evenly divided between the classes with a slight advantage to seniors. In fact, if experience matters, they could legitimately start 7 seniors as their best team (assuming that senior Martinez is injured) and supplement those 7 with juniors Racioppi and McCoy and sophomores Gyau and Stevens. And then, there would still be seven on the bench who have US youth national team experience led by top talents Overbeck, Pascall, Heinsohn, and Boade plus a gaggle of other players with credentials of previous starers and proven regional ODP players and ECNL standouts. Yes the season kick-off UNC-Duke game should be a real treat. But please, no 40 mph gusting winds and steady driving torrential rain this year.
I won't be surprised to see Gyau or Paschall start by season's end. Gyau especially, I almost had her starting over Burns at left back. We shall see. And I wish it was "Overbeck" playing! lol. I think you meant Erlbeck. You are right, Duke has such depth they essentially could sustain some injuries again this year. I just hope they don't have to. I'd like for once the whole roster to last til the end and see what we can accomplish! I was at that game last year, standing with my umbrella in hand, so as to not get my butt soaked! Duke really dominated that game, should have won. But unc held tight with great defense. Let's hope for sunshine this time!
GK: EJ Proctor CB: Schuyler DeBree CB: Taylor Mitchell RB: Morgan Reid LB: Chelsea Burns HM: Olivia Erlbeck MF: Ashton Miller AM: Taylor Racioppi AM: Ella Stevens FW: Imani Dorsey FW: Kayla McCoy Duke will be one of 6 legitimate contenders for the national title. They could finish 2nd or 3rd in the ACC and still win the whole thing. We will see who is hot in November.
No starting spot for Rebecca Quinn?! And I agree, I think that any of the top 5 teams could end up winning the nc
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&ATCLID=211644372 This is a good read/update regarding the 3 injured players last year
Swap Quinn for Miller if she is healthy. I think the bigger issue will be if McCoy is back 100%. They are a different team with her and with no Toni Payne to make up for it she is probably the key piece to this squad.
I was going to say the same thing abut Miller. I caught Duke at Pitt last year and although dominated, Pitt was close cuz Miller was weak. I think her lineage keeps her in there. The team is old school money/odp and will CC fail unless they adapt.
It's hard to see Church benching Miller, who was voted a captain this year and has started nearly every game of her Duke career. With that being said, I agree with you and Really?'s thoughts on swapping her out. I watched EVERY game last year, and I think she makes careless errors that lead to attacking opps for the opponent. Plus, she seems slow to me, and when she loses her man, can't catch up to them to defend the attack.
I think she'll be back to normal preseason. She is a big difference maker, as she is probably the best finisher on the team.
This Duke team looks very similar to the teams they have had for the past 4 or 5 years. There is no shortage of talent and they definitely have the potential to go to the CC. The question marks are will the key players stay healthy and will players step up to fill the leadership roles on the team? To me the key graduating players were Payne and Raben and it isn't obvious who is going to fill those roles. I don't think McCoy is as dynamic and dangerous as Payne but when she is on form she can make a difference, she just needs to do it consistently. The CB position is a bigger question mark. Debree has been inconsistent and the only other proven CB is Quinn who is probably also the best HM/MF on the team (has played CB and HM on the Canadian National Team). If Church can find a solid CB pairing and move Quinn into the midfield then this team is much stronger overall.
While I loved Payne's speed and her ability to dribble by everybody, she had awfully low career numbers for her talent. I think with Racioppi AND McCoy back, they can easily make up for Paynes numbers. Leadership is a tangible you can't quantify through stats. This is much harder to gage. This is where trying to replace Gibbons is near next to impossible. Hopefully one of the Sr's really takes hold of this team and can lead them (Proctor?) You are correct that Quinn in the midfield makes Duke really dynamic. But they need a solid back line, more so then more creative/attacking players. That's why I feel she's best at CB pairing with Debree, who while quick, does tend to make untimely errors. If you are right, and they put Quinn in the MF, then I have a feeling they'll pair Debree with Malinda Allen, who's listed as solely Defense on the current roster. I'm not crazy bout that, as I think she's too slow to play cb. We'll see. Maybe one of the freshmen (Mitchell or Cosme) will surprise and come in ready to go. Should be an exciting season
You are going to like Michell. She is left footed, has great speed and is a really good 1v1 defender. She is 5'8 and could also play left back (maybe her best position)
I saw her climb up the rankings in the last year, so clearly a lot of people are high on her skills too! I'm excited to watch her play.
On that point, it seems like it is time for Duke to move on from all the Gibbons hype...she is still on the banner for their twitter page! Can't they find a current player to promote?
Haha. We shall see. They just started the official first practice today. When they release the media photos and roster photos, maybe then they'll promote someone else, or maybe just committee it.
http://www.theacc.com/news/florida-state-picked-as-league-favorite-for-2017-season-08-03-2017 ACC preseason predictions are out. Looks pretty legit to me. Except Clemson is WAY too high. They lost a ton, 10 Seniors I think. And they bring in nobody near the quality to replace them. I think they'll be 11th in league. I think Wake, Miami and L'ville are under valued. They will surprise. While I think FSU is talented every year, I think they get a "pass" every year and players automatically get penciled in to the all acc team list. I would take Kuikka off. But the list looks decent. I think Andrzejewski is overrated.
NC State is overrated. The win vs UNC (bored, napping) was the only out of the ordinary thing they had which bought them an ez rustbelt/west NCAA draw.
I don't know, I'd have to politely disagree with you here. They were very young last year. And still had the one of the programs best years! They're older this year, almost every starter returns, AND the they get Jackie Stengel back! Is she stays healthy, she's all ACC to me. They might not get to the sweet 16 again, but they'll give teams fits and be very competitive
Yeah, you definitely know more of the granular details of most rosters so as a layman, looking at the results, outside UNC, they shot par. Beat the cold turf schools, compete with WF for the second grass division championship. State is cheaper than WF and Miami, so they should win the second grass division every year. Also,and I could be wrong and another layman opinion, women seem to plateau athletically past early teens (~16). I just don't see good players developing into studs with age like males who are still growing and have high physical ceilings into their 20s. So i'm a skeptic with the so and so will be great this year cuz she was good last year. I expect just another good. But we'll see, what's the difference between 7th, 8th or 9th anyway? Equilibrium has been established.
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211659308&DB_OEM_ID=4200 Too low in my opinion. But no worries, we'll climb right after first weekend, after we beat unc!
https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/col...s-2017-impact-freshmen-prep-takeover_aid42204 Nice to see her on this list. Even though I don't think she starts, it would be nice if she proved me wrong and had an Ella Stevens like year!
http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=211661852&DB_OEM_ID=4200 Big game tonight! Hoping we can pull this one out and start the season with a bang. Ella Stevens did not play last week vs Clemson because of a back issue. Hope she's healed and ready today
Time to check in and evaluate the Blue Devil's early season progress. Tough 2-1 OT loss to UNC followed by 3 easy wins against mediocre opposition. To me, Duke has looked like the team of last season with too many shots from long range and a lack of finishing when real opportunities arise. There were 2 or 3 golden scoring chances against UNC that should have been buried long before they got to OT. On offense, Imani Dorsey has been a bright light with 1 goal in each of the last 3 games and some great finishes. On the positive side, the team is generating lots of possession in the middle and final third, they just need to look to make the extra pass instead of giving up and hoisting shots from outside the 18. On defense, the team has been generally solid although they have had the occasional break-down on long balls splitting the central defenders. I would attribute that to some inexperienced players in the back line at certain times. DeBree has been very consistent and Mitchell has done well for a freshman. So far it is hard to judge how good this team really is given the lack of strong opposition other than UNC. Based on that one game, it looks like Duke should be able to compete with anyone but can they score goals and pull out wins against quality opposition? We will find out soon as things start getting much tougher this Sunday with Auburn followed by West Virginia and Utah before the ACC schedule begins.