No. 3 Duke survived a long afternoon in Berkeley, and the Blue Devils needed every bit of it.
Junior Julia Boehringer delivered the penalty stroke that sent the match to overtime, graduate student Alaina McVeigh supplied Duke’s first goal, and the Blue Devils finished off No. 14 Cal in a shootout for a 3-2 win on Sunday. The ACC showdown turned into a grinder before Duke finally prevailed, improving to 10-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
The numbers told the story of Duke’s edge. The Blue Devils piled up a 21-3 advantage in shots and a 12-2 margin on corners, but Cal made the most of its chances late to drag the match into the extra sessions.
For much of the first half, neither team could find much rhythm in the attack. The opening quarter moved quickly from end to end, with Duke creating a couple of dangerous looks, only for Cal goalkeeper Carine Van Weichen to shut the door and keep things scoreless after 15 minutes.
The second period followed the same script, with just two shot attempts between the teams. Duke junior Kaiya Chepow and Van Weichen each came up with a save, and the match went to halftime still knotted at 0-0.
Duke finally broke through in the third quarter, and the goal came off a sharp piece of work from junior Callie Rogers. Rogers forced a stick takeaway just outside the offensive third, poked the ball into space and found McVeigh, who carried it closer before ripping a cross-body backhand shot in the 45th minute for a 1-0 lead.
Then Cal flipped the script.
The Golden Bears struck twice in four minutes and suddenly held a 2-1 lead with five minutes left in regulation. Duke answered by pulling Chepow for an extra attacker, and the gamble paid off. The Blue Devils generated late pressure, earned a penalty stroke and Boehringer buried it into the top-left corner at 59:28 to force overtime.
Neither side scored in the extra period, so the match went to a shootout, where Duke came out on top 3-2.
McVeigh’s goal was her 51st career score, moving her to eighth all-time in Duke history. She finished with 17 points this season on six goals and five assists.
Boehringer scored for the second straight game, giving her three goals on the year, and she remains perfect on penalty strokes at 2-for-2. She now has eight points in 2026.
Chepow improved to 10-3 in the cage this season.
The win also gave Pam Bustin her 198th victory at Duke and her 360th as a head coach. Duke is now 12-0 all-time against California, has posted its 32nd 10-win season in program history and its 12th under Bustin. The Blue Devils are 3-3 in overtime games this season and 1-1 in shootouts, and California became the eighth opponent in 2026 that Duke has held below five shots.
In Other News...
Dukes First Loss Put One Big Limit On This Team
Dukes first loss of the 2026 season came in Atlanta, a 28-25 defeat to Georgia Tech that left the Blue Devils with a familiar kind of frustration: they were close, productive and still not quite clean enough to finish the job. Penalties were a major reason the night slipped away, and the offense had to navigate a tougher script than usual with running back Nate Sheppard working through the game on a taped foot.
Even with that limitation, Sheppard still led Duke in both rushing and receiving yards, a reminder of how much the Blue Devils lean on him when the margins get tight. Walker Eget helped keep the offense moving with 259 passing yards and a touchdown, stepping up when Sheppard was clearly not at full strength, but Duke still ran into one big limit that showed up at the wrong time and cost it the chance to leave Atlanta unbeaten. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Suddenly Has A Troubling Issue Before North Carolina
Dukes unbeaten start came to an abrupt end with a 28-25 loss to Georgia Tech, and the way it happened left plenty for the Blue Devils to sort through before the rivalry game against North Carolina. The loss exposed issues in the trenches and around the quarterback, even as Nate Sheppard and Walker Eget turned in performances that kept Duke within striking distance deep into the game.
For a team that had been rolling, the concern now is less about one bad night than about what it revealed. Duke struggled to control the line of scrimmage, couldnt consistently generate a pass rush, and again came up short in late-game execution, a combination that turns next week into more than just another ACC game. North Carolina is arriving at a moment when Duke suddenly has to answer a much tougher question about how quickly it can clean this up. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Newcomers Are Embracing A Lineup Edge Fans Will Notice Fast
Jon Scheyer is leaving himself room to lean on a much deeper Duke rotation this season, and that approach was on display during a preseason scrimmage against Belmont. Freshman guard Deron Rippey Jr. and senior transfer guard John Blackwell both sounded encouraged by what they saw, pointing to a roster built with enough depth and versatility to keep the Blue Devils from relying on the same small group every night.
The short-term wrinkle is that Duke is still working through injuries to two players, though the expectation is that both will be ready for the season opener. Even so, the early feel around this group is that Scheyer could have more lineup options than usual, and the newcomers are already embracing the idea that competition for minutes will be part of the teams edge. [Read more 🡒]