There aren’t many ACC women’s soccer matches of scant importance, not when North Carolina and Florida State are locks to be highly ranked by the NCAA tournament selection committee and the other nine conference members are just hoping to get a bid.
The Wake Forest-Duke tussle on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Channel) in Winston-Salem is the most critical match these teams have played this season. Wake is 12-2-0 overall and 4-1-0 in the conference, but has yet to play the Tar Heels and Seminoles; Duke’s overall record of 7-5-1 and conference mark of 3-2-0 puts it squarely on the bubble.
“Both of us are in the same situation,” says Duke coach Robbie Church, whose team has won the last eight meetings between the schools. “We have to look at this game as one we have to win. The bulk of their schedule is still ahead of them, but they’re highly ranked [No. 10 in the nation]. We’ve improved since the start of the season, but I still think we can play better, and we’re going to have to play better against them, especially at their place.”
Wake lost its opener to Santa Clara, 1-0, but since then hasn’t been shut out and overall has outscored teams, 35-7. Top scorer Elizabeth Remy (7 goals), whose sisters Katherine and Amanda played for Duke in the 1990s, is eight goals shy of tying Sarah Kozey, who finished her eligibility last year, for the all-time school goalscoring record. The Deacs’ attack, though, is balanced: Allie Sadow, Sarah Winslow and Megan Upchurch each have five goals.
Freshman KayAnne Gummersall leads Duke with six goals, and senior Sarah McCabe has four. One of last year’s top scorers on the team, sophomore Christie McDonald (five goals in 2005), has been moved to center back in an effort to shore up the defense. McDonald has battled back after being diagnosed with a brain tumor last April to return to the Blue Devils’ lineup.
Like Duke, Wake has lost to Virginia, which lost to Miami, so the battle for places three through six in the conference standings behind UNC and Florida State will probably go down to the final weekend of the regular season.
If they finish fourth and fifth, Wake and Duke would meet in the first round of the ACC tournament (Nov. 1-5 in Cary, N.C., also the site of the Women’s College Cup a month later), so Wednesday’s game is a chance to establish head-to-head superiority should they meet again in a few weeks’ time.
Duke won last year’s meeting, 3-0, in Durham. Wednesday’s meeting figures to be a lot tighter.
- TUESDAY WOMEN’S ACTION
William & Mary ran its unbeaten streak to 10 games with a 3-1 victory over James Madison at Albert-Daly Field. Sophomore forward Claire Zimmeck recorded a hat trick, the second of her career. The Tribe leads the CAA with a 5-0-1 record. VCU (5-1-0) moved into second place with a 2-1 win over Old Dominion (4-2-0). The loss was only the second of the season for the Monarchs.