No. 19 Duke gets its first ranked test of the 2026 season on Sunday night, and the setting should fit the occasion.
The Blue Devils will host No. 6 Georgetown at Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium on Aug. 30, with kickoff set for 6 p.m.
Duke enters at 2-1, Georgetown at 2-0-1, and the match will air live on ACC Network with Mike Watts and Paddy Foss on the call.
For Duke, this is the last stop before conference play begins. The Blue Devils will head to Wake Forest on Saturday, Sept. 5 for their ACC opener, but first they get one more non-conference measuring stick against a Georgetown side they know well enough by now.
The two programs meet for the second straight year and only the sixth time overall. The series is dead even at 2-2-1, and last season’s matchup in Georgetown was the lone draw between them. Duke fought back with two late goals to salvage a 2-2 result, with Kenan Hot and Leonardo D'Ambrosio scoring less than a minute apart.
Duke is coming off a wild one of its own, a 4-3 loss to Furman on Thursday. The Blue Devils jumped ahead 2-1 early behind a first-half brace from Ulfur Bjornsson, but the Paladins answered with the next three goals before Tucker Smith’s late strike brought the final margin to 4-3.
Bjornsson has been the early offensive engine for Duke, piling up eight points through three goals and two assists. The senior striker also moved past 30 career goals with his brace against Furman.
There has been a strong youth flavor to Duke’s starting group in the opening stretch of the season. In the first two games against Seton Hall and Cal Baptist, the Blue Devils started three freshmen in the field and a freshman in goal. Logan Moniz and Jack Ottley each scored their first career goals in that run, alongside starter Max Steelman, while Max Deisenhofer went 2-0 in goal with three saves.
That freshman presence only grew against Furman, when Ethan Congleton joined the starting XI as the fifth freshman to start for Duke. It marked the first time since April 3, 2021 that at least five freshmen started for a Duke team. Congleton had already delivered a decisive moment earlier in the season, scoring the game-winning goal against Cal Baptist on a one-touch volley to the far post in the second half.
Sunday’s matchup also comes with an off-field note tied to Duke’s soccer programs. The men’s and women’s teams have teamed up with Duke Children’s to launch Kicks for Kids, a fundraiser supporting Pets at Duke, part of the Duke Cancer Patient Support Program.
Pets at Duke uses specially trained therapy dogs to visit patients in the hospital and clinics, offering comfort and companionship during treatment. The pledges in the initiative are based on the combined goals, assists, shots, corner kicks and saves produced by Duke’s men’s and women’s programs.
Freeman Field itself is still a new name in the Duke landscape. Last season, the school announced the naming of Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium after a multi-million dollar gift aimed at improving the experience for men’s and women’s lacrosse and soccer. The gift came from alumni and former football student-athlete Heath Freeman T'02 and reflects the Freeman family’s commitment to Duke student-athletes and their belief in the power of sport to shape character, build community and elevate excellence.
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