The Duke Blue Devils will be looking make the best of their quarterfinals loss to Clemson in the ACC Tournament and turn that around a make a run to the Final Four in Philadelphia this year. Duke had some quality wins and with a 12–4–2 record, they are surely a lock for the NCAA Tournament that begins this week. Here is what went down during a successful season in Durham.

Quality Start

The Blue Devils opened their 2017 season with a five-match unbeaten run, recording back-to-back shutouts against UCF and Fordham to begin their season.

The Blue Devils had a small scare against High Point but sealed the deal in overtime, winning 3–2.

Duke couldn’t find a winner against Presbyterian, and their match with the Blue Hose finished 1–1 on Sep. 5 ahead of their conference opener versus Virginia Tech.

The Blue Devils took care of business against the Hokies, winning 3–1 in Durham on Sep. 8 and starting the season with an impressive 4–0–1 record.

Problem on Tobacco Road

On Saturday, September 16th, the unbeaten Blue Devils met their longtime rivals UNC for another thrilling showdown in the Tobacco Road rivalry. Duke nearly sent the game into overtime late in this one, but the Tar Heel goalkeeper stood his ground and kept the Blue Devil offense at bay.

Duke would suffer their first loss of the season to their rival, falling 2–1, and the team would look to rebound against Wisconsin, Syracuse, and App State.

Thriller, Thriller and Thriller

After their 2–1 setback to UNC, the Blue Devils would go on to win three straight. All three wins came by one goal, and the first game following the loss was a seven-goal thriller versus Wisconsin. With the score tied at two going into the halftime break, Cameron Moseley scored twice in the second half to give the Blue Devils a 4–3 win over the Badgers.

Duke would follow up their emphatic win over the Badgers with a massive road win at #11 Syracuse. A late first half goal and an early second half goal by the Blue Devils pushed them to a 2–1 victory over the Orange and Duke was sitting pretty a 6–1–1 on the year.

Duke would squeak by Appalachian State on Sep. 26 and go into a matchup with #8 Louisville on a hot streak.

Deja Vu?

The next four games were remarkably similar to the last four games, as Duke took a loss and then went on a three-game winning streak. First up, Louisville. The Cardinals got on the board right before the first half was over and a Brian White shot went high in the final seconds of the match, sending the Blue Devils back to Durham with a 1–0 loss, just their second on the year.

Following the loss to the Cards, the Blue Devils bounced back with a three-game winning streak against Elon, Pittsburgh, and Georgetown.

Duke defeated Elon 1–0 on Oct. 3 and followed that up with two crucial road wins against Pittsburgh and Georgetown, 2–0 and 2–1 on Oct. 6 and 9.

Could they extend that winning streak to four? Sadly, it wasn’t in the cards.

Utter Nightmare

Friday the 13th was a day in the 2017 campaign that Blue Devil soccer fans would like to forget: Duke took their biggest loss on the season, a 4–1 defeat to Clemson… in Durham. A hat trick from Diego Campos, with two of those goals coming in a five minute span midway through the first half, proved to be the difference maker in the match. A first-half Duke red card helped Clemson prevail, but it wasn’t a good night for the team overall, who dropped to 10–3–1 on the year.

But Duke followed up that loss with a great performance against a ranked Notre Dame, drawing nil-nil. The Blue Devils then jumped back into the win column with a 2–1 win over Delaware on Oct. 24.

Perfect Sendoff

The Blue Devils ended their 2017 regular season on a high note, taking down #13 Virginia 1–0 in a thrilling match.

Daniel Wright scored a goal in the final five minutes to boost the Blue Devils to victory and thrusted them into fourth place in the ACC, earning a first round bye in the tournament.

The regular season ended with a 12–3–2 record, but the bye earned them a matchup with Clemson in the tournament, and revenge for the 4–1 defeat was not to be. The Tigers again came to Durham and took down the Blue Devils 1–0, ending Duke’s ACC Title hopes earlier than expected.

What’s Next

While the Blue Devils are certainly poised to make the NCAA tournament, much like UNC, their early exit in their conference tournament might hurt their chances in getting a first round bye in the big dance. Still, with a solid 2017 season behind them and a #17 ranking to their credit, they could be poised to make a run in the tourney.

The NCAA Tournament begins with first round games on November 16th, and the National Championship game is in Philadelphia on December 10th. Duke will make the tournament, but as we saw in the ACC tournament, their seeding might be key to how far they can go. Here’s hoping we’re still following their season after Thanksgiving.