The Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina met four times in the 2024 women's college soccer season. The only game that mattered was the fourth. The North Carolina Tar Heels snapped Duke's shutout streak and their Cinderella story with a 3-0 win in the second College Cup semifinal.
It was a defensive miscue that gave the Tar Heels their first goal. Nicole Chico stuck her leg out at the top of the 18-yard box and brought down Maddie Dahlein inside the box. There was little protest from the Blue Devils when the referee awarded the foul. Kate Faasse stood over the penalty spot, sending the ball into the top right corner on the referee's whistle. Duke goalkeeper Leah Freeman went left.
But the nightmare wasn't quite over for the Blue Devils. In the 25th minute, Olivia Thomas split the Duke defense on a beautiful through ball from Bella Gaetino. Thomas slipped through, dropped her defender Nicky Chico, and forced Freeman to come off her line to try and stop her. Thomas chipped a diving Freeman to make it 2-0 Tar Heels midway through the first half.
And the cherry on top for the Tar Heels came in the form of a Maddie Dahlein goal in the 59th minute. Against a furious Duke offense that came out firing, North Carolina countered to put the game to bed. Faasse sent in a perfect cross to Dahlein, who turned, realized the ball hadn't come with her, found the ball, cut back across her defender, and found the back of the net with the help of an accidental Duke screen of their own goalkeeper.
For Duke, this was a game of nightmares. Two shots clanged off the crossbar in the first half when a goal would have changed the momentum. Defensive miscues, unnecessary fouls in key areas of the field, and passes that never found their intended target-it was a Duke team that overthought themselves. The pressure was there, they wanted to win for their seniors and head coach Robbie Church, and the Blue Devils played tensely like a team that knew a mistake would cost them everything. So when the mistake happened, early, there was no coming back from it.
For North Carolina, it was an exclamation point game. It was a year where it would have been easy to write them off, the transfers out, the sudden resignation, the five losses. And yet, here they are, playing with minimal expectations (granted, they are still UNC, the expectation is a national championship.) Somehow, the Tar Heels have managed to merge their vast experience and an underdog mentality. Looking extremely calm under pressure, the Tar Heels played with passion, a combination that gave them freedom on the field.
Press Notes
Claire Gagne on the Underdog Mentality:
"In regards to the underdog mentality, we really just embraced being a rookie team. We do have some people coming back, we do have some experience, and we have experience in number of years. It was an opportunity for us this season to kind of step into that role."
"We stepped into this season knowing that we were gonna just show up for each other and play for each other every day and that's what's gotten us this far. Along with Damon and his ability to bring us together and play for something bigger. That underdog mentality is really rooted in our ability to see beyond the field and see what we're playing and who we're playing for."
Damon Nahas, UNC head coach, on the game:
"I think, to be honest with you, getting the goals early helped a bit. And I think, a little bit the resilience. We were a little bit disjointed after our second goal, I thought they were given some space in behind. At one point it just wasn't meant to be for them and I think as the game pressed on I thought they rushed a few of their chances. Whereas early on in the year you found a little more composure in some of those moments for them."
Maggie Graham on Robbie Church, Duke head coach:
"I know Robbie's gonna be in my corner probably for the rest of my life. He develops a relationship with you off the field that he knows is gonna last forever. I've gotten to develop that relationship for five years so I'm pretty lucky. I just know he's always gonna be there for me and every girl on the team."
Robbie Church on being at Duke for 24 years:
"I'm working at the best university in the country, with the greatest people there, and it's a people's university. The people are unbelievable, my athletic directors, I couldn't ask for a better group. The assistant coaches that I've had...Everybody that's around, they're there for the student-athletes, they're there to help those student-athletes develop on the field and in the classroom and as young ladies."
"It's a very interesting time in athletics. I hope we don't lose the fact that we're still a university, that they're still student-athletes. That's a team over there that has almost a 3.7 GPA as a group. Duke stands for everything I believe in and there's nowhere else I would like to coach."
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