Mia Minestrella made sure Sunday night ended with more than just a comeback story for Duke.
Her overtime penalty kick at fourth-ranked Wake Forest sent the Blue Devils into the ACC Championship semifinals, locked up Duke’s 500th program victory and pulled her even with Kelly Walbert’s long-standing school record of 47 career goals. One swing of the left foot delivered a result that carried weight far beyond the 5-4 final.
The goal was Minestrella’s 47th in a Duke uniform, and the speed with which she got there is part of what makes the number stand out. She didn’t score as a freshman, then piled up all 47 over the last three seasons. In the process, the Redondo Beach, California, native became the first Blue Devil to post at least 10 goals in three straight seasons.
This year has been her biggest yet. Her 17 goals rank fourth on Duke’s single-season list, and her 36 points are tied for eighth.
Sunday’s winner was also her 12th career game-winning goal, and she’s tied for fourth nationally with those 17 goals. One more would give her the record outright, passing the mark Walbert set through the 1995 season.
Wake Forest had been one of the ACC teams able to keep Minestrella quiet. Not anymore. She has now scored against 15 different conference opponents in her career, with Syracuse the only current ACC program she’s faced without finding the net, and that came in just one meeting.
Duke didn’t get to 500 wins on Minestrella’s finish alone. The Blue Devils had already done plenty of damage before her winner, scoring four times before the overtime penalty. Senior Cameron Roller, freshman Yuna Marui and redshirt junior Sam Courtwright all delivered second-half goals.
Courtwright’s two-goal night was her second brace of the season, after she did it at SMU. Roller added her fifth career goal and first since 2024.
Marui continued her habit of showing up in the biggest spots; both of her goals this season have come against top-five teams, with her earlier strike coming against No. 1 Stanford and Sunday’s against No.
4 Wake Forest. She also delivered the cross that led to Duke’s decisive penalty kick.
Senior Mia Oliaro had a hand in the rally too, and her two assists pushed her career total to 30, good for fourth in program history. Against Wake Forest in three Duke appearances, she now has two goals, four assists and eight points.
Roller also reached a milestone before her goal. Sunday was her 70th straight start, moving her into sole possession of eighth on Duke’s career consecutive starts list. That streak is the longest active run in the ACC and fifth nationally.
The comeback itself put Duke in rare company. The Blue Devils had only won four times after erasing a two-goal deficit, and this was their biggest comeback in ACC Championship play.
Their five goals were the second-most Duke has ever scored in an ACC Championship match, behind only the six against Maryland in 1990. The nine combined goals matched the tournament record for a single game.
Duke finished with a season-high 40 shots and a 16-1 edge in corner kicks. The shot total tied for fourth-most in program history and stood as the most Duke has ever produced in an ACC Championship game. The win sent the Blue Devils to their 19th ACC Championship semifinal.
Next up is second-seeded North Carolina on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. The game will air live on ACC Network.
In Other News...
Manny Diaz Weighs In On A CFP Change Duke Fans Should Watch
As the College Football Playoff moves toward a 24-team format, Manny Diaz is already thinking about what the change could mean for the sport beyond just the bracket itself. The Duke coach said he does not support eliminating conference championships, arguing that a playoff should still begin inside the leagues and reward teams for what they do on the field rather than leave so much to committee judgment.
Diaz also pointed to a likely side effect Duke fans should keep an eye on: the growing uncertainty around bowl games in an expanded playoff era. If more teams are pulled into the postseason picture, those traditional December matchups could lose some of the relevance they have carried for years, even as the postseason itself gets bigger and more inclusive. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Needs One More Scoring Threat To Take Down Duke
Michigan State heads into the Championship Classic with a clear formula in mind: lean on Jeremy Fears to steady the offense, get enough production from the center spot, and keep Duke from dictating the game with its defense. The Spartans have the kind of structure that can make a high-profile nonconference matchup interesting, especially if their key pieces hold up against the pressure that comes with facing a team like Duke.
What Michigan State still needs, though, is one more scorer it can count on when the Blue Devils start taking away the primary options. An additional double-digit threat would go a long way toward making this a real test for Duke, because the margin for error shrinks quickly when the defense is this good. The question now is whether the Spartans can find that extra punch in time to make the matchup far more competitive than it looks on paper. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Faces Its First Real Test Against A Top Five Rival
Duke gets its first real measuring stick of the season in the State Farm Champions Classic, where Jon Scheyers team meets Michigan State in an early Top 5 showdown that should say plenty about where both programs stand right now. The Blue Devils have had time to settle in, but this is the kind of November stage that quickly exposes what is working and what still needs polishing, especially against a Tom Izzo team that already looks sharp after opening with two wins.
Michigan State brings the usual Izzo edge, and junior guard Jeremy Fears gives the Spartans a steadying presence in the backcourt as they prepare for one of the seasons biggest nonconference games. For Duke, the matchup is less about the hype around the ranking and more about handling the pressure points that come with a rivalry-caliber test, from the guard battle to the physicality that tends to define these meetings. The betting line and prediction only add to the intrigue, but the real story is whether the Blue Devils can answer an elite opponent right away. [Read more 🡒]