Women's soccer believes it deserves more respect

Respect. After winning a share of second place in the ACC regular season, capturing the runner-up position in the ACC Tournament, and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before succumbing to a Clemson team it had beaten twice earlier, it seemed like the young Duke women's soccer program had solidified their claim to respect for years to come. Apparently, the rest of the ACC disagrees.

Despite returning nine starters, including its two All-Americans, the Blue Devils were dropped to sixth in the ACC preseason coaches poll released earlier this week. One year removed from a 14-8-1 record, the Blue Devils return their top four point scorers (senior Sarah Pickens, juniors Carly Fuller and Alison Sanders, and sophomore Gwendolyn Oxenham). In addition, the Blue Devils have a new coach, Robbie Church, who feels the early rankings are only an added challenge to the players.

Pickens, who had a breakout year for the Blue Devils by netting a team-high nine goals, was shocked to hear the polls place Duke in the bottom half of the conference, particularly given its success of last season and its potential for the upcoming season.

"It kind of came as a surprise to us," Pickens said. "We were highly competitive in the ACC last year, and we expect to do great things again this year. Being ranked that low is almost an added incentive to prove to these people that we should be ranked higher."

Pickens, who in addition to freshman goalkeeper Thora Helgadottir was chosen as an All-American, already realizes the extra attention on the field that inevitably comes with that star status.

"I had to deal with this pressure in high school because of the hype from our team," said Pickens, who scored over 100 goals in her high-school career at Greensboro (N.C.) Day School. "I am hoping with that background it won't affect me as much and bother me in a negative way. I think a lot of our players will step into the spotlight at different times, so the pressure might not be so focused on just me."

Pickens will have plenty of support this year from the midfield, as Church has opted to change the team's formation from an older 4-3-3 scenario to the much more common set of 4-4-2, giving All-ACC second-team selections Fuller and Oxenham more chances to spread the opposing defenses.

The ACC joins the Pac-10 as the two deepest women's soccer conferences in the country. Duke must compete with defending national champs North Carolina, last year's ACC regular season winner Clemson, and a Virginia Cavalier team on the rise.

However, in a match against Richmond last week, Truman injured the medial collateral ligament in her other knee.

"This is the worst person it could happen to," Pickens said. "She's been recovering for 13 months from her last injury, so she was pumped and ready to go. In our scrimmages, she was a huge personality on the field, guiding everyone on the team. Hopefully, her recover will be short so we can get her back."

Though the injury will keep Truman out for around four to six weeks, the team still returns nine of its starters and sports one of its deepest rosters in years after losing only four seniors.

"We definitely have the talent and capability this year," Pickens said. "We're very deep. The talent level won't go down once members from the bench step in."