Women's soccer set for big dance

This season has been like one long roller coaster ride for the women's soccer team. Saturday's first round NCAA Tournament game versus Virginia at noon at the Duke Soccer Stadium will determine whether Duke gets a ticket to keep on riding.

The Blue Devils went on a tear at the end of the regular season and defeated enough ranked teams to receive a bid to the NCAAs. Senior Mandy Lehr attributes Duke's turn-around to the Blue Devils' work ethic. She says they work harder than any other Duke team has in her four years.

The Blue Devils lost in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament 3-2 against Wake Forest even though they dominated most of the game, but Duke doesn't feel that this will affect its play Saturday.

"We didn't take the game as, "We didn't play well enough,'" co-captain Lehr said. "We took it as we didn't finish well enough."

The Blue Devils will have to be at the top of their game against Virginia. Although the Blue Devils defeated Virginia 3-0 on Nov. 1, the Cavaliers dominated and took more shots on goal than Duke did.

Duke is going into the game confident but wary. Lehr says that any time you shut out a team and it has a chance to avenge its loss, it's dangerous.

"We're going in with the attitude that you have to win to survive," Lehr said.

Unfortunately for Duke, freshman forward Kim Cahill was injured in practice on Wednesday. The doctors confirmed that she tore her ACL and injured her meniscus-she is out for the remainder of the season. The line-up will have to be shuffled around, but Hempen is waiting to disclose the new line-up until game time.