Where could Duke women's soccer be seeded in the ACC tournament?

As we head into the last day of ACC play, everything remains up for grabs—the conference's regular-season champion is yet to be decided, and 10 different teams can qualify for the eight available seeds in the upcoming ACC tournament. 

In all likelihood, if Florida State can finish off its undefeated season against Clemson, it'll take home its first regular-season title since 2014. But if the Tigers pull out a win against the Seminoles, and North Carolina is able to take down Notre Dame, the crown and top seed in the conference tournament go to the Tar Heels for the third consecutive year.

Duke can theoretically come into the tournament seeded as high as fourth, or could miss it entirely. But its final opponent is Miami, which could be one of the worst teams in ACC history, so for the purposes of this article we'll assume that the Blue Devils don't suffer that historic upset. That'll ensure Duke's likely finish is between fourth and sixth in the conference.

Duke can finish as high as fourth if the Fighting Irish lose to North Carolina and Virginia falls to Syracuse (the latter result only marginally less unlikely than the Blue Devils losing to Miami). In that case, the Blue Devils likely play the Cavaliers in the opening round—Duke tied Virginia 1-1 back in September.

The Blue Devils could also finish as low as sixth if the Cavaliers are able to take care of business against the Orange and Notre Dame pulls off the upset against the Tar Heels, which would mean a first-round matchup against Virginia (if Clemson loses to Florida State) or Clemson (if the Tigers win).

However, the most probable scenario is Virginia defeating Syracuse, and North Carolina taking down Notre Dame.

That means Duke will likely finish fifth in the conference. The Blue Devils would then play Clemson, unless the Tigers upset Florida State, in which case Duke would face the Cavaliers. The Blue Devils beat Clemson 1-0 in early October.

The takeaway is that Duke is most likely to play Clemson, though Virginia is also a possibility. And Duke should be a favorite against both of those teams, despite what the United Soccer Coaches Poll says. If the Blue Devils come away from the first round with a win, they'll be staring down a rematch with either North Carolina or Florida State, though Duke head coach Robbie Church is expectedly only looking toward Miami for now.