Head women's soccer coach Robbie Church came to Duke five years ago, and tonight, the first class he recruited will be honored as the 13th-ranked Blue Devils host Miami for Senior Night tonight at 7 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium.
"It's a wonderful group of young ladies," Church said. "They have been fantastic ambassadors to our soccer program."
Eight players will be recognized as Duke (11-4-1, 5-4-0 in the ACC) tries to rebound from two consecutive ACC losses. Following defeats at the hands of No. 23 Clemson and No. 6 Florida State, the Blue Devils dropped seven places in the NSCAA rankings to their lowest position of the year.
"The rankings are great to have, but it doesn't matter," Church said. "Our goals all year were to get an NCAA bid and get a home seed. We feel strongly if we get a win here and in the ACC tournament, that will give us 13 wins.... That will be enough to give us a first-round game in the NCAA tournament in Durham."
Duke can secure at least a fifth-place finish in the conference with a victory over the Hurricanes (8-9-1, 2-6-0). If Duke loses and Clemson upsets the Seminoles, then the Blue Devils would fall into sixth place. Duke will receive the fourth seed only if No. 8 Boston College loses to unranked Maryland.
The Blue Devils, however, are guaranteed to face a team in the first round of the ACC Tournament that they lost to in the regular season. Boston College is Duke's likely opponent as the teams currently sit fourth and fifth, respectively, heading into the eight-team tournament. A swap of seedings would result in the same first-round matchup. If Duke drops to sixth place, the Blue Devils will face either Florida State or No. 10 Virginia. The Cavaliers and Eagles both topped Duke, 1-0, during the last week of September.
After a six-game losing skid, the Hurricanes have rebounded to win three of their last four games. In its three recent victories, Miami has allowed only one goal, while netting five. This does not bode well for Duke, as all four of its losses this season have come by just one goal.
"We haven't scored a lot of goals lately and that has to be our focus during the end of the regular season," Church said. "We just have too many opportunities and not enough goals."
The Blue Devils' defense will focus on shutting down a resurgent Miami offense that struggled mid-season. Through their first five games the Hurricanes were averaging 2.4 goals per game, but Miami went through a period where it was blanked in seven-of-nine contests.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.