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20 Years with Robbie Church: Church Named 2017 ACC Coach of the Year
6/20/2021 5:22:00 PM | Women's Soccer
As head coach Robbie Church wraps up his 20th season with the Blue Devils, GoDuke.com will be looking back over the last 20 years highlighting top moments for Duke women's soccer under the direction of Church.
DURHAM, N.C. – Coming off a historic regular season that saw the Duke women's soccer team capture its second ACC title, Robbie Church was tapped the ACC Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.
Church became the sixth coach in ACC history to earn the honor multiple times. The Blue Devils hauled in numerous individual distinctions for their efforts during the 2017 campaign, including ACC Offensive Player of the Year (Imani Dorsey), Defensive Player of the Year (Schuyler DeBree) and Midfielder of the Year (Quinn).
Church's first Coach of the Year recognition came in 2011, the same year he won his first ACC regular season title with the Blue Devils. Duke ran through its 2017 regular season slate with a 17-1-0 record, marking the most regular-season wins in program history, and a 10-0-0 mark in ACC play. The Blue Devils had several marquee victories, including road wins over No. 3 West Virginia and No. 10 Virginia and a home win against No. 6 Florida State.Â
"It's a great honor in this conference, but this is more of a staff award for us," Church said. "Anyone that knows the inner workings of our staff knows how involved they are and how much they do in all phases of this program. I think we have the best staff in the country and we try to use them to their strengths. I'm very proud of what our staff has done and how they've prepared the kids for everything this year."
It marked the third time that a Duke coach was named the ACC Coach of the Year, as Bill Hempen won the award in 1997.
Duke also had a league-best nine All-ACC honorees – a program record – with five student-athletes selected to the First Team.
The 2017 Blue Devils would go on to make an appearance in the title game of the ACC Tournament, and followed up with four straight wins in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the College Cup for the fourth time in program history. Duke would fall to fourth-ranked UCLA in penalty kicks in the national semifinal in Orlando, Fla. Church's squad finished the season with a final national ranking of No. 3.
#GoDuke
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DURHAM, N.C. – Coming off a historic regular season that saw the Duke women's soccer team capture its second ACC title, Robbie Church was tapped the ACC Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.
Church became the sixth coach in ACC history to earn the honor multiple times. The Blue Devils hauled in numerous individual distinctions for their efforts during the 2017 campaign, including ACC Offensive Player of the Year (Imani Dorsey), Defensive Player of the Year (Schuyler DeBree) and Midfielder of the Year (Quinn).
Church's first Coach of the Year recognition came in 2011, the same year he won his first ACC regular season title with the Blue Devils. Duke ran through its 2017 regular season slate with a 17-1-0 record, marking the most regular-season wins in program history, and a 10-0-0 mark in ACC play. The Blue Devils had several marquee victories, including road wins over No. 3 West Virginia and No. 10 Virginia and a home win against No. 6 Florida State.Â
"It's a great honor in this conference, but this is more of a staff award for us," Church said. "Anyone that knows the inner workings of our staff knows how involved they are and how much they do in all phases of this program. I think we have the best staff in the country and we try to use them to their strengths. I'm very proud of what our staff has done and how they've prepared the kids for everything this year."
It marked the third time that a Duke coach was named the ACC Coach of the Year, as Bill Hempen won the award in 1997.
Duke also had a league-best nine All-ACC honorees – a program record – with five student-athletes selected to the First Team.
The 2017 Blue Devils would go on to make an appearance in the title game of the ACC Tournament, and followed up with four straight wins in the NCAA Tournament to advance to the College Cup for the fourth time in program history. Duke would fall to fourth-ranked UCLA in penalty kicks in the national semifinal in Orlando, Fla. Church's squad finished the season with a final national ranking of No. 3.
#GoDuke
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