Blue Devils Exact Revenge Against Stanford in Rout
· Yahoo Sports
The Stanford Cardinal women's soccer program came into Sunday's pivotal matchup with No. 3 Duke at a bit of a disadvantage, and the Blue Devils ended up with a 5-0 rout at home, defeating the previously unbeaten Cardinal in convincing fashion.
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Stanford still has six players missing due to the U-20 World Cup in Poland, while Duke does not have a single player on the U.S. team. They also had some extra motivation in this one, not only playing at home against the top-ranked program in the country, but also facing Stanford, the team that eliminated Duke from the College Cup in 2025, just shy of the national championship game.
Last season, Stanford lost its first match to then-ranked No. 18 UCLA 2-0 on September 7, so the Cardinal are in a similar spot this season record-wise. Last year's program also went on a run at that point, not losing a single game until the national title match.
On Sunday, Duke got the scoring started early with Katie Shea Collins notching her sixth goal of the season in the 15th minute. She would assist on Duke's next two goals in the 36th and 52nd minutes, scored by Avery Oder (4th) and Yuna Marui (1st).
Marui would assist on Duke's fourth goal of the match in the 59th minute, and Oder would score the fifth and final goal on a penalty kick in the 79th minute.
Right before Stanford lost a number of players to the U-20, we noted that the Cardinal had been doing a tremendous job defensively in limiting the number of shot attempts the opposition receives, which is a surefire way to limit how many goals they can score.
For the first time this season, Stanford was outshot by an opponent, with Duke leading the way 13-12. Duke goalkeeper Molly Vapensky was terrific in net, recording five saves to secure the clean sheet. This was a tough draw for Stanford's backup goaltender Rhiannon Stewart, with All-ACC goaltender Caroline Birkel away.
The loss drops Stanford to 6-1-1 on the season and 0-1-0 in ACC play, while Duke picks up a huge win, now sitting at 6-0-1 and 1-0-0 in conference play.
Stanford's next match will be at home on Thursday, September 17 against Louisville. The Cardinals are 7-1 this season, dropping a match to Nebraska in the season opener, but they have rattled off seven straight wins since, meaning another tough test for the shorthanded Cardinal program is coming up.