Resilience

Charlottesville

September 9, 2025

On Sunday afternoon I was in Durham to watch the #3 Duke women’s soccer team take on the visiting Crimson Tide of the University of Alabama. Duke came in with an unblemished 5-0 record; Alabama had lost Thursday night to Carolina. (Talk about not using parallel construction!)

It was a high-quality first half. With only a couple of minutes left in the half, Duke scored the first goal of the game. Halftime 1-0.

The second half was hard fought. Both teams played great defense and turned away scoring opportunities. As the PA announcer gave the one-minute warning; the score remained 1-0. 18 seconds later the ball rolled past the Duke goalie. The 'Bama players and fans were euphoric. Bummer.

The final score: Duke 1, Alabama 1.

After the game, the Duke team signed autographs, all 25 women seated at tables autographing a team photo for probably 50-100 kids. On the field they are elite soccer players playing at the highest level; here they were teenage girls laughing and smiling signing for youngsters who hope to be them one day. I know the Blue Devils must have disappointed at the outcome of the game, but here they were 10 minutes later having fun, keeping it all in perspective. How wonderfully remarkable.

Oh, yeah, the team autographed a Duke soccer ball for an old fart, too. Pretty damn cool!