The mottos the women’s soccer team has lived by this season include “Have a chip on your shoulder,” “Pride in Zeros,” “Turn the page” and “Believe.”
With these slogans in mind, the Blue Devils earned a spot in the Sweet 16 and a matchup against No. 10 UCLA (15-6) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
For the first time since the 1994, the 18th-ranked Blue Devils (15-7) advanced past the second round when they defeated No. 3 Virginia 3-0 in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend. Duke is hoping to return the College Cup, which will be held in Cary in December, for the first time since 1992.
Duke overcame one obstacle last weekend, but another one awaits in Los Angeles, and the Blue Devils are looking to avenge last season’s 2-1 loss to the Bruins in Durham.
“I don’t expect a similar result [to last year’s],” said junior forward Carolyn Riggs of the outcome of this year’s matchup. “We’re definitely coming out for a little bit of revenge. They beat us here on our field so we’d really like to return the favor. They don’t have a few players they had, we don’t have a few players we had, but at the same time we’re definitely confident going cross-country.”
UCLA has a much different look from a year ago having lost a number of seniors, including All-American defender Nandi Pryce. Bruins sophomore Bristyn Davis and junior Stacy Lindstrom took the year off in order to play for the United States under-19 Team. Yet without these stars, UCLA is still an athletic and talented team comprised of many of the West Coast’s most outstanding players.
“One of UCLA’s things is their athletic ability all over the field,” head coach Robbie Church said. “They were the second-best team in the country last year.”
The challenge of facing another of the nation’s elite teams is exciting, junior Heidi Hollenbeck said. Throughout the year the Duke players have motivated themselves through various methods. After their disappointing draw, the players sent numerous e-mails encouraging each other to look at the Virginia game as an opportunity, Church said.
Now they are looking at Saturday’s match as another chance to disprove skeptics, who question Duke’s ability to compete at a national level. The team had a strong week of practice carrying over the momentum from the UVa win and are optimistic about this weekend.
“I don’t think [the Bruins] have the same prowess they did last year,” Hollenbeck said. “The game against Virginia we played so physical, and so we’re going to just keep that physical level.”
Offensively, the Blue Devils have come alive as of late. Riggs has scored six goals in the team’s last seven games and sophomore Sarah McCabe returned from a hip injury suffered during the ACC Tournament to add two goals in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
“As a forward it’s one of the roles that I have to play to finish goals when I have the opportunity,” Riggs said. “People are looking for me more and people are doing their jobs really well and it makes my job easier.”
Duke is two goals shy of tying its single-season record of 67 for most scores in a season. The three forwards, Riggs, McCabe and senior Casey McCluskey, have totaled more than half the team’s total.
Although the Blue Devils have experienced more success this season than in any in the last decade, neither the players nor coaches want to see it end, especially for this class of seniors.
“I just don’t want us to be satisfied that we’re at the Sweet 16,” Church said. “It was a great win at Virginia but can we build on that and build confidence and then go to the Elite Eight.”
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