For the first time ever, Duke will enter the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed.
The Blue Devils (17-3-1), making their ninth straight appearance in the tournament, will play Radford (15-5-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Koskinen Stadium.
With the top seed in its region, Duke enjoys homefield advantage to open the tournament. The Blue Devils, who boast a 12-0-1 home record, have allowed just four goals in their 13 games at Koskinen, and just two after September 9.
“I think our strength has really been at home all the way through,” defender Maddy Haller said. “You can see that just in our record. As a defense, it’s just kind of nice to be home and… know where people are on the field.”
The Blue Devils also have the luxury of a break from conference opponents. The ACC earned a league-record nine NCAA bids, including three No. 1 seeds, but the earliest Duke could potentially face an ACC foe is in the quarterfinals against Miami.
“The ACC is so competitive,” goalkeeper Tara Campbell said. “I would like to avoid any ACC team as long as I can.”
The Blue Devils’ ACC experience, even including their conference tournament semifinal loss to Wake Forest, may prove enough to help the team succeed early.
“It was disappointing to lose in the ACC tournament, but… we learned from that game,” Campbell said. “The first half is so important, especially in the tournament. Scoring the first goal is crucial, and I think we learned a little about when you go down in a game, how you react to that. So I think it could work out for us in the end that we didn’t win the ACC tournament.”
With plenty of experience and a regular season ACC title already, Duke has put itself in a great spot to improve upon its round of 16 finish last season.
“We’ve been working to this for a long time, not just this year,” head coach Robbie Church said. “The girls have done a fantastic job from the opening day of preseason all the way through.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.