August 14, 2025 -- Duke 3, Penn State 2

Charlottesville

August 15, 2025

I made the drive down to Durham yesterday to watch Avery (number 10), my great niece, play in her first regular season soccer game -- #4 Duke versus #11 Penn State.

Avery's parents made the trip from LA as did a number of other parents of the Duke players -- many of them from California. One of the other players' dads had coached Avery and his daughter when they were little. Small world. Dana and Josh (Avery's parents) were so generous to invite me to the parents' tailgate before the game. A wonderful group of folks. One set of parents have had three daughters play D1 soccer at UVa, BC and Duke. Incredible!

Having seen Duke play twice in the preseason, I thought they were a very good team. As the Penn State players were introduced, I thought how they looked like Big10 women -- they won't get pushed around.

Duke started four (five?) freshman -- quite a number for such a highly ranked team. Avery was one of them -- playing upfront.

In the first couple of minutes, Penn State took a couple of shots from inside the box. Yikes, I thought. Is this going to be the same Duke defense that UNC shred in the NCAA Final Four last season? But the ball ended up controlled by the Duke offense which allowed us a sigh of relief. That is until ...

Avery shot the ball and scored! Less than four minutes into her first regular season college game! The clip above is of the goal. The announcer is losing his mind over Avery!

This kid is remarkable humble and is so nice. What a way to start her college career -- and classes haven't even started yet.

Duke went on to fall behind 2-1 but never looked like they were pressing. The Devils scored two more goals, holding Penn State to 2 and won the game 3-2. Duke took 28 shots to Penn State's 8. The Devil's defense rose to the occasion.