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Blue Devils Seeded No. 1 in NCAAs; Will Host Radford
11/7/2011 7:56:00 PM | Women's Soccer
DURHAM, N.C. - For the 18th time in school history and the ninth straight year, the Duke women's soccer team received an at-large invitation to play in the NCAA Tournament on Monday as the Blue Devils received a No. 1 seed and will host Radford on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2:00 p.m., at Koskinen Stadium.
The No. 1 seed for the Blue Devils marks the first time Duke has been seeded No. 1 in school history. The four No. 1 seeds include Stanford, Duke, Florida State and Wake Forest. The NCAA Division I College Cup will be played Dec. 2, 4 at the Kennesaw State University Soccer Stadium in Kennesaw, Ga.
"It's awesome," commented junior Maddy Haller on being a No. 1 seed. "It's a great honor. I think there's really something to be said for having home field advantage and I'm really excited. It's so much fun. We've never been in this position before, so it's great to finally be here."
Head Coach Robbie Church and the Blue Devils have posted one of the best seasons in school history with a 17-3-1 overall record and notched their second Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular season title with an 8-1-1 mark. Duke advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals before falling to eighth-ranked Wake Forest on Friday evening in Cary, N.C. Duke is currently ranked No. 1 in the latest NCAA RPI.
"It's exciting for everybody that's been associated with the program for the last 11 years that we've been here," said Church. "I think when Bill [Hempen] was here and with the great job he did, we've been working to this a long time - it's not just this year. But it is so exciting. I think it's well-deserved. The girls have done a fantastic job from the opening day of preseason all the way through. We're looking forward to getting it started. Let's go play."
Radford will be making its fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, after defeating Campbell, 1-0, on Sunday in the Big South Championship. The Highlanders have posted a 15-5-1 overall record under the direction of head coach Ben Sohrabi.
"It's been a while since we haven't played an ACC team, and I think with all the teams in the tournament, they're all going to be so good," said Haller. "ACC teams are great that they prepare you so well, so when we get to this part of the year where we're playing other teams, we really just need to take them all seriously and be prepared for every game."
The winner of the Duke/Radford contest will advance to the second round against the winner of the Kansas (11-8-1) and Georgia (12-6-2) contest. The No. 2 seed in Duke's bracket is UCLA (15-1-3), while Pepperdine (15-1-4) and Tennessee (15-6) is seeded No. 4.
The ACC led all conferences with nine teams in the tournament. Eight teams will represent the Southeastern Conference, while five teams enter the tournament from both the Big 12 Conference and the Pac-12.
"It's tough," commented Church on the ACC. "We've been playing ACC play for the last seven, eight weeks now with the conference tournament. And it takes a toll on you, especially with us trying to push so hard to win the regular season. So it's going to be good to get away from other people. We've played Radford before. Ben [Sohrabi] does a fantastic job with their program year-in, year-out. We've got to prepare for them. They're going to come down here and they're going to challenge us. We've got to start to work this week on Radford and then if we're fortunate enough to move on from that, we get to play the following weekend."
Thirty conferences were granted automatic bids for the 2011 championship, while the remaining 34 teams were selected at-large. The top 16 teams are seeded and conference teams cannot play each other in the first or second rounds. When pairing teams, the committee follows geographic proximity parameters. Sites are selected for the first round to create the least number of flights.
On the season, Duke played stellar defense allowing only nine goals in 21 matches, while registering a school-record 14 shutouts. Junior tri-captain Tara Campbell has notched a school-record 12 shutouts on the year, while posting a 0.41 goals-against average.
Freshman Kelly Cobb (10 goals), sophomore Laura Weinberg (7 goals) and sophomore Kaitlyn Kerr (6 goals) have led Duke in scoring on the season. A total of 11 Blue Devils have scored goals on the year. Sophomore Mollie Pathman owns a team-best eight assists on the season.
Duke advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 a year ago and has made trips to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2007 and 2008.
Earlier this week, six Blue Devils -- Natasha Anasi, Kerr, Cobb, Weinberg, Pathman and Campbell -- earned All-ACC honors. Anasi was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, while Church was selected ACC Coach of the Year for the first time.
"It was disappointing to lose in the ACC Tournament, but we learned from that game," said Campbell. "We learned the importance of coming out from the first whistle. The first half is so important, especially in the tournament. Scoring the first goal is crucial. And I think we learned a little bit about when you go down in a game, how to react to that. I think it could work out for us in the end that we didn't win the ACC Tournament."
Duke has posted a 10-0-1 overall record at home this season.
"We've got a fantastic stadium here," said Church. "We've really got some great crowds. We've got great student support. That's going to be really important for us as we go forward. We need that support, we need the students out here, we need the band and the Blue Devil. We need the community here. It isn't guaranteed - because you're the No. 1 seed, because you're playing at home - it doesn't guarantee anything. It's nice to have it, it's an advantage, but there's not guarantee. We've just got to go out and play."
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