Soldan’s Career Day, Stifling Defense Pace Duke to 4-0 Shutout Over VCU

Sunday, September 13

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

(4-2)

VCU

(2-3)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
VCU	0	0	0	0	0
Duke	2	1	0	1	4

Duke FH jumps for joy after scoring a goal

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Soldan’s Career Day, Stifling Defense Pace Duke to 4-0 Shutout Over VCU

9/13/2026 4:14:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

DURHAM, N.C. – Sophomore Lily Soldan tallied a career-high four points to pace the Duke (4-2) offense and the stifling Blue Devil defense held VCU (2-3) without a shot for the entirety of the contest en route to blanking the Rams, 4-0, in Sunday's afternoon non-conference field hockey action.

Soldan's career day featured a goal and a pair of assists, with freshman Adriana Ensani, sophomore Sofia Fidalgo Schioppa and graduate student Alaina McVeigh also adding tallies to round out the Blue Devil scorers. Duke outshot VCU 28-0, including 17 shots on goal, and earned nine penalty corners.

Defensively, Duke constricted the VCU offense and did not allow the Rams to get the ball past midfield for much of the contest. Junior goalkeeper Kaiya Chepow played all 60 minutes in the cage and earned her second shutout of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Blue Devil offense came out firing and struck for a pair of goals just past the midway point of the opening period. McVeigh opened the game scoring at the 8:07 mark, ripping her shot over the pad of VCU's Emma Clements after getting a nice feed from Soldan inside the circle.
Sixty seconds later, Soldan dropped a nifty touch pass off to Ensani, and the freshman buried her shot into the back of the cage in the 10th minute to net her first career goal and double the Blue Devil advantage.
Duke's offense continued to be the aggressors in the second stanza and peppered the Rams' defense with eight attempts. Clements proved she was up to the task, posting five of her 12 saves during the period.
Fidalgo Schioppa stretched the home team's lead to three goals at the 22:45 mark. After senior Maggie Kondrath's shot was saved off the goal line by VCU's Josefina Ventimiglia, the ball bounced out to Fidalgo Schioppa and the sophomore used one fell swoop to score her first goal of the season and put Duke ahead, 3-0.
The Blue Devils put up seven more shots in the third and earned five penalty corners, but were unable to push any of those chances across.
Duke put the finishing touches on the victory in the 53rd minute, with Soldan finding the back of the net for her first marker of 2026. After attempts by junior Callie Rogers and McVeigh were turned away, Soldan cashed in the third chance at 52:59 to stretch the gap to four.

GAME NOTES:

Duke sweeps the weekend and improves its record to 4-2.
The Blue Devils post their 10th consecutive win over VCU and increase their lead in the all-time series against the Rams, 12-5.
Duke moves to 3-0 this season at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium.
Pam Bustin earns her 192nd win at Duke and the 354th of her career. Bustin is now 4-0 all-time against VCU as a head coach, including a 3-0 ledger at Duke.
Duke posts its fifth multi-goal game of the season and the fourth with at least three goals.
The Blue Devils held VCU without a shot attempt for the full 60 minutes on the way to posting their third shutout of the season.
Lily Soldan finished with a game and career-high four points, scoring one goal and dishing two assists. The two helpers were also a career best.
Adriana Ensani netted her first career goal, while Sofia Fidalgo Schioppa and Soldan produced their first tallies of 2026.
With goals by Ensani, Fidalgo Schioppa and Soldan, the Blue Devils have now had 10 different goal scorers through six games this season.
Kaiya Chepow earned her second shutout of the year and improves to 4-2 overall.

UP NEXT:
The Blue Devils gear up for their third ranked matchup of the year, welcoming No. 11 Virginia to Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium for the ACC opener next Friday. First hit is slated for 6 p.m., with the game airing live on ACCNX.

#GoDuke