The women’s soccer team gathered at the Varsity Ale House in Durham Monday afternoon to await the unveiling of the 2004 Women’s College Cup bracket. But when Duke finally appeared on the projection screen, no one in the room made a sound or even moved.
The Division I Women’s Soccer Committee awarded an at-large bid to Duke (12-7), but the Blue Devils will not host the opening two rounds as head coach Robbie Church and the players had hoped. Instead they will head to Charlottesville, Va., where the team will face Virginia Commonwealth in the opening-round game.
“We thought we’d be home,” Church said. “We thought we had an opportunity, and we thought we did enough on the field to warrant to be able to stay home with it, but that’s the way it is set up.”
ACC Tournament champion Virginia will host Friday and Sunday’s action, and the third-seeded Cavaliers are a potential second-round opponent for Duke.
Despite the initial shock, Duke is not upset.
“We’re not disappointed. You’re always excited to be in the tournament,” Church said. “The tournament is a great reward for a season well done. There’s a lot of good teams that aren’t in this tournament.”
The Blue Devils’ opponent, Virginia Commonwealth, won the Colonial Athletic Association title for the first time in school history and has battled its way to a 15-6 record. This season also marks the first College Cup appearance for the Rams, and Church said they are a formidable foe.
“We have a really tough draw, there is no question about it,” Church said. “Virginia Commonwealth is the champion of that league. I’ve heard all year that Virginia Commonwealth is a very legitimate team. They’ve got a couple of foreign players that are very good.”
Virginia and James Madison will square off in the other first-round matchup in Charlottesville. The Blue Devils are thankful to be playing within a bus ride rather than having to travel across the country. Last year they played the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in College Station, Texas, where they eventually fell 2-1 to Texas A&M in the second round.
Eight ACC teams qualified for the tournament, but only top-seeded North Carolina and the Cavaliers will host first and second round games.
“Eight teams in is great for the conference, absolutely awesome for the conference,” Church said. “We thought we’d get seven, at least. Eight just solidifies this conference as the top conference in the nation.”
Church said that he was surprised at the unevenness of the pairings, considering that six of the eight ACC teams are on the same side of the draw. The Blue Devils will have to deal with the difficult path that lies ahead if they hope to make it to the SAS Soccer Complex in Cary for the College Cup finals, which will be held in early December.
For now, Duke will focus on preparing for Friday’s game against VCU.
“Virginia Commonwealth is going to look at this as a great opportunity to play an ACC school and to play Duke,” Church said. “That’s a very tough first-round game. We can’t look past that game. If [we do], we won’t be playing on Sunday.”
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