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Duke Receives Eighth Straight NCAA Tournament Selection
11/8/2010 5:54:00 PM | Women's Soccer
DURHAM, N.C. - For the 17th time in school history and the eighth straight year, the Duke women's soccer team received an at-large invitation to play in the NCAA Tournament on Monday and will travel to Gainesville, Fla., for a subregional against California on Friday, Nov. 12.
Duke will face California (9-5-5) in the first round at 8:30 p.m., on Friday, while fifth-ranked Florida (18-2-2) and Mercer (10-8-1) will battle at 6:00 p.m. The second round match will take place on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 1:00 p.m. All three matches will be played at James G. Pressly Stadium.
"It is interesting - we have been throwing around a lot of scenarios lately and I don't know why but going to Gainesville never really popped into our mind but once we found out [we were excited]," said Duke Head Coach Robbie Church.
The Blue Devils own a 10-7-1 overall record and totaled a 4-5-1 mark in the very challenging Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Duke is coming off falling in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, 1-0, to third-ranked Maryland. On the season, the Blue Devils have been led on the scoring end by freshman Laura Weinberg with nine goals, while freshman Mollie Pathman has eight, senior Molly Lester has four and redshirt freshman Callie Simpkins has four.
Duke's defense has been solid allowing only 21 goals in 20 matches, including nine shutouts. The Blue Devil offense has come on strong to conclude the season scoring 11 goals the last five matches.
California is coming off closing the season with a 1-0 victory over Oregon State in double-overtime. The Bears have been led by Alex Morgan with 14 goals and one assist in only 11 matches. Lauren Battung is second on the squad with seven goals. California is coached by Neil McGuire, who is in his third year with the program.
"Cal is a team we have never played," said Church. "I know their coach Neil McGuire very well. He is a great guy and does a great job for them. They are in one of the top conferences in the country -- the ACC/Pac 10 - every game is a tough game so it is not going to be a big jump in the level of play. Our last two games were Maryland and [North] Carolina - two number one seeds. It is going to be a tough game. But I am excited. I like the facilities at Florida. We are a little bit familiar with that. It is at Florida, but Cal is obviously coming from Berkeley all the way down to Gainesville so that is a haul for them."
Duke and California will meet for the third time in school history with the Blue Devils holding a 2-0 lead in the series. Both contests have been at neutral sites as Duke won a 4-2 match on Oct. 2, 1994 in the St. Louis Tournament and notched a 1-0 decision on Oct. 3, 1999 in the Golden Gate Classic.
"Again like everybody it is a tough tournament this year," commented Church. "Stanford obviously has done a fantastic job going from start to finish with an unblemished record, but everyone else is kind of in and out. We have played a lot of the top teams and fared well against a lot of the top teams. The kids are excited as you saw today so it is nice to be hungry at this time of year."
Mercer is coming off notching its first Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship with a 1-0 victory over Jacksonville on Saturday, Nov. 6. Florida received the automatic invitation after notching a 1-0 win over South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference Championship.
Prior to Duke's first round loss in the 2010 NCAA Tournament to Rutgers, 2-0, the Blue Devils advanced to the Elite Eight in back-to-back years in 2007 and 2008.
The NCAA Division I College Cup will be played Dec. 3, 5 at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. The four No. 1 seeds include Stanford University, University of North Carolina, University of Portland and University of Maryland.
The Atlantic Coast led all conferences with eight teams in the tournament. Seven teams will represent the Pacific-10. Six teams enter the tournament from both the Big East Conference and the Big Ten Conference. Thirty conferences were granted automatic bids for the 2010 championship. The remaining 34 teams were selected at-large.
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