Midfielder Katie Trees knows what a Final Four feels like, and she wants to go back.
The senior was not around for the Blue Devils' most recent trip to the national semifinals in May 2011, but tasted the big stage that fall as a member of the Duke women's soccer team, which advanced to the national title game before falling to Stanford. A win Saturday would give her another chance at a championship.
After downing Southern California 17-9 behind an impressive offensive showing in the second round May 10, third-seeded Duke will take on unseeded Princeton at Koskinen Stadium at 1 p.m. in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals.
“[Standing on the doorstep of the Final Four] is a phenomenal experience,” Trees said. “I want nothing more than to get there and I’ll do everything I can physically on Saturday to reach it. Once you are there, you get even hungrier because you can feel the essence of the national championship in the air.”
Duke (15-4) averages 12.9 goals per contest and has plenty veteran firepower to light up the scoreboard on its way to the Final Four. Four seniors pace the team’s attack, led by attacker Kerrin Maurer's 41 goals. With 159 tallies in her four years in Durham, the Setauket, N.Y., native is tied with Lindsay Gilbride for the sixth-most goals in the history of the program.
Another striker, Brigid Smith, has found the back of the net 37 times and leads the team in hat tricks this season with seven. Midfielders Taylor Trimble and Katie Trees have combined for 68 goals, meaning the Tigers (16-3) will have no shortage of weapons to defend Saturday to slow down Duke's offense.
“It’s great that we have numerous scoring threats because it doesn’t allow defenses to focus on just one person or two people,” Maurer said. “That’s really crucial in the postseason. One person can score five goals in one game and that person can make us win that game. But the next one it can be somebody else.”
Freshman attacker Kyra Harney provides support for her veteran teammates, netting 30 goals in her first year as a Blue Devil.
Part of Duke’s evenly distributed scoring numbers stems from the unselfishness of its attackers and the vision to patiently work the ball around the field to set up their teammates. Maurer is also the squad’s top-facilitator with 29 feeds. With the two helpers she delivered against Southern California, shereached 117 in her career and became the program’s all-time assist leader. Trees—who registered a career-high four feeds against the Trojans—and Smith have teamed up for 40 assists as well.
Princeton reached the quarterfinals by upsetting sixth-seeded Stony Brook 8-4 May 10.
“A lot of seeded teams aren’t playing this weekend so we feel fortunate that we’re able to be alive another weekend and that we’re competing,” Duke head coach Kerstin Kimel said. “It’s exciting. We’ve worked very hard and are one step closer to the goal of making to the Final Four. But everybody feels this weekend that this, the quarterfinal game, is the toughest game of the tournament.”
The Tigers have both a stingy defense and an explosive front line, as they score 11.9 goals contest per contest and allow just 9.0 scores, numbers that each rank in the top 30 nationally.
Sophomore midfielder Olivia Hompe leads the Tigers in scoring with 53 tallies, followed by senior midfielder Erin Slifer with 41. Slifer is also the squad’s top distributor with 29 helpers. and sophomore goalkeeper Ellie DeGarmo has totaled 126 saves on the season.
Princeton has also had success at the draw thanks to midfielders Anya Gersoff and Anna Doherty, who have combined for 71 draw controls this season.
“Princeton is a really disciplined, tough team,” Kimel said. “That’s a hallmark for their program and they’re very well-coached too. To think that they were going to Stony Brook and get ran over last weekend was laughable. We weren’t surprised by the outcome. They have good defense, good goalkeeping, a ton of different threats on offense. We’ve got to be prepared for every single one of their kids to be a scoring threat.”
If the Blue Devils defeat the Tigers, they will hit the road for the first time in the tournament to take on the winner of second-seeded North Carolina and Penn State in the national semifinals at PPL Park in Chester, Pa., May 22.
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