Blue Devils Close Non-Conference Slate at Liberty

THE OPENING PASS BACK:

No. 7 Duke puts a bow on non-conference action with another top-20 tilt, taking on No. 12 Liberty in a Sunday matinee Oct. 25. The action gets going at 1 p.m. ET, live on ESPN+.
The Blue Devils sit atop the ACC standings at 11-3 overall and 6-1 in conference action. Duke has won five straight against NFHCA top-20 teams and sports a 5-2 record this season versus ranked foes.
Kaiya Chepow was tabbed the ACC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after collecting three saves and posting her sixth clean sheet in the 1-0 win at then-No. 16 Louisville.
Duke's defense has been strong this season posting seven shutouts, while also holding nine foes to five shots or less. The team allows just 7.3 shots and 3.1 penalty corners per game, the latter checking in as the second-fewest among the NFHCA top 20. The Blue Devils are No. 5 in the NCAA in shutouts per game (0.50) and 11th in goals against average (1.01). Both marks top the ACC.
Offensively, Duke has featured 12 different goals this season with seven different players owning multiple tallies. McVeigh (7g, 5a) and Ashley Stockdale (6g, 2a) are the team's top scorers with 19 and 14 points, respectively. The Blue Devils have also converted on 16 percent of their penalty corners with 17 goals on 105 set pieces.

BY THE NUMBERS:

2: Regular-season games remaining against current NFHCA top-20 clubs
3.1: Penalty corners allowed per game, the second-fewest among NFHCA top-20 teams
4: Players of the Week for Duke this season -- Madison Beach, Julia Boehringer, Kaiya Chepow (2x) and Philine Klas
6: Duke's current NCAA RPI ranking
6: Clean sheets for junior goalkeeper Kaiya Chepow in 2026
7: Shutouts by Duke's defense this season
7.3: Shots allowed per game by the Duke defense
7.50: Penalty corners averaged by Duke per game -- No. 1 in the ACC and 10th in the NCAA
9: Opponents held to five shots or less by Duke on the year
12: Different Blue Devil goal scorers in 2026
14: Points for junior Ashley Stockdale this season, five more than she had in all 21 games last year
17: Goals coming off 105 penalty corners this season -- a 16 percent conversion rate
19: Points for Alaina McVeigh this season, one away from becoming the sixth Duke player all-time to total 20-plus points in all four seasons as a Blue Devil
20: Goals scored by the Blue Devils in the first half in 2026
25: Combined points by the sophomore quartet of Sofia Fidalgo Schioppa, Juliette Schulten, Lily Soldan and Shae Wozniak -- seven more than they had in 21 games last year
32: 10-win seasons for Duke field hockey all-time
52: Career goals scored by Alaina McVeigh, eighth in Duke history
123: Career points for Alaina McVeigh, ninth all-time at Duke
199: Victories at Duke for head coach Pam Bustin
361: Career wins for Pam Bustin, fourth all-time among active DI field hockey coaches

WITH TWO REGULAR SEASON GAMES REMAINING:

Duke controls its own destiny with the ACC Championship on the horizon, currently sitting in first place in the league standings with an 11-3 overall record and a 6-1 mark in conference action.
The Blue Devils are 5-2 against teams ranked in the NFHCA top 20. Two of Duke's three losses this season came in tightly-contested battles with current No. 1 Maryland and No. 2 Northwestern at the ACC/B1G Challenge.
Twelve different players have scored for Duke this season with seven owning multiple goals. Alaina McVeigh and Ashley Stockdale pace the offensive efforts with 19 points (7g, 5a) and 14 points (6g, 2a), respectively. McVeigh has started to find her groove with markers in each of the last four outings.
Duke's defense has been strong this season with seven shutouts in 14 games, while also holding nine foes to five shots or less. The team is allowing 7.3 shots and 3.1 penalty corners per game. The latter mark is the second-fewest among NFHCA top-20 teams.
The Blue Devils are fifth in the NCAA in shutouts per game (0.50) and 11th in goals against average (1.01). Both marks lead the ACC.
In the ACC rankings, Duke is first in set pieces per game (7.50) and ranks second in total penalty corners (105) and shutouts (7). The Blue Devils sit third in goals (37), while also checking in at fourth in assists (25) and points (99) and fifth in points per game (7.07).

SOLID DUKE DEFENSE:

Duke's defense has been solid during the 2026 season. The Blue Devils continuously bring relentless pressure up-and-down the field, while forcing the opposition into tough or ill-advised passes.
The Blue Devils boast one of the ACC's top scoring defenses, leading the conference while ranking 11th in the NCAA with a 1.01 goals against average. Duke's 0.50 shutouts per game average leads the ACC and ranks fifth nationally, while its seven clean sheets are second in the conference.
Part of the Blue Devils' success defensively is that they limit the opponent's chances to score, allowing just 7.3 shots per game. Duke has held 10 opponents to less than 10 shots and nine teams to fewer than five attempts.
When opponents are able to get a shot off, only half of the attempts get through to junior goalkeeper Kaiya Chepow. Duke's .500 opponent shot on goal percentage checks in as the third-lowest of teams ranked in the NFHCA top-20, trailing only UConn (.489) and Princeton (.495).
The Blue Devils are allowing just 3.1 penalty corners per game, which is the second-fewest among NFHCA top-20 clubs. Only Monmouth allows fewer set pieces, giving up 2.9 per contest.

DUKE-LIBERTY SERIES HISTORY

Duke and Liberty battle for the 12th time since the first matchup in 2014. The Blue Devils hold a 7-4 edge in the all-time series, but it is the Flames who have enjoyed the more recent success with wins in four of the last five.
Six of the previous 11 meetings have been determined in overtime, while nine have been decided by one-goal margins.

WHAT GIVES?

Sunday's contest features one of the NCAA's top defensive squads in Duke matching up against a top-10 offensive team nationally in Liberty.
Duke checks in at No. 5 nationally in shutouts per game (0.50), while also sitting 11th with a 1.01 goals against average.
Liberty comes into the game ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA in four offensive categories. The Flames are sixth in assists per game (3.00), seventh in goals per game (3.53) and scoring average (3.44) and eighth with an average of 10.1 points per contest.

UP NEXT:
The Blue Devils cap the 2026 regular season Oct. 30 with the Tobacco Road rivalry match, hosting #9 North Carolina at 6 p.m. on Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium, live on the ACC Network.

#GoDuke

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Players Mentioned

Madison Beach

Julia Boehringer

Kaiya Chepow

Sofia Fidalgo Schioppa

Philine Klas

Alaina McVeigh

Juliette Schulten

Lily Soldan

Ashley Stockdale

Shae Wozniak

Duke information