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game 23
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
#8 Duke (15-4-3) on #3 Alabama (22-2-1)
Friday, November 25, 2022 – 7:00 p.m. ET – ESPN+
Tuscaloosa, Alabama (Alabama Football Stadium)
ESPN+ Talent: Gray Robertson (PXP), Hayley MacDonald (color)
HAVE TO KNOW
• For the ninth time in the last 12 years, Duke will play in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament when the second-placed Blue Devils (15-4-3) travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to face top seed Alabama (22-2-1) on Am Friday, November 25 at 7 p.m. ET at Alabama Soccer Stadium.
• The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Gray Robertson (PXP) and Hayley MacDonald (Color) dominating the action.
• Duke’s nine NCAA Quarterfinal appearances since 2011 have finished second nationally under the head coach’s guidance Robbie Church.
• Duke is making his 28th NCAA tournament appearance and making his seventh top-16 national appearance in the last eight seasons.
• Duke is 48-23-11 overall in 28 NCAA tournament appearances.
• It is the first time in school history that Duke has achieved a 2nd place finish after receiving three 1st places and five 3rd places.
• Duke meets their ninth top 10 team of the season on Friday.
• In 39 games at Duke, Michelle Cooper has scored at least one goal or assist in 28 of those competitions.
• The ACC field five of eight teams in the NCAA Quarterfinals.
TALES/OTHER NOTES OF THE BLUE DEVIL
• Two of the country’s top two goalscorers will feature with Duke’s in Friday’s quarter-finals Michelle Cooper and Alabama’s Riley Mattingly Parker. Both have scored 17 goals this season.
• Duke and Alabama also have two of the nation’s top scoring duos. Michelle Cooper and Kat Rader of Duke is second with 29 goals, while Riley Mattingly Parker and Ashlynn Serepca are fifth with 26 goals.
• Michelle Cooper of Duke and Brooke Steere from Alabama played together for the Michigan Hawks club team.
• Delaney Graham takes 26 minutes of play to become Duke’s all-time NCAA Tournament leader. It has 1,337 minutes.
• Michelle Cooper is the only player in the nation to rank in the top 10 in terms of goals (17), assists (11) and points (45).
• The Blue Devils have 15 wins under their head coach Robbie Church for the ninth time.
• Katie Groff has four goals in her career and three of those are game winners after scoring the winner against Texas.
• Duke has not lost a match since October 13 at FSU. In those eight games, the Blue Devils are 5-0-3 and have outplayed their opponents by 15-4.
• Michelle Cooper and Kat Rader have scored 29 goals together this season.
• A total of three teams remaining in the 2022 NCAA tournament have sister tandems – Arkansas, Duke and North Carolina. Duke’s Jenna and Emily Royson along with Delaney and Maggie Graham has the most combined starts among the sisters this season (85).
• Either Kat Rader or Michelle Cooper have scored in 12 of Duke’s 22 games.
• When Kat Rader This season, the Blue Devils have a 9-0-1 record. Duke is 9-1-1 this season and 19-1-1 for the last two years Michelle Cooper scores.
• Duke is ranked No. 7 in the NCAA RPI with four losses to FSU (1), UCLA (3), UNC (5), Virginia (10). The Blue Devils’ schedule is ranked by the NCAA as the toughest nationally.
THE SERIES WITH ALABAMA
• Duke and Alabama meet for the fourth time in school history and the first time since October 4, 1997. The Blue Devils lead the series 3-0, all three meetings taking place in Durham.
• In their last meeting in 1997, Duke recorded a 3-0 win. The Blue Devils have beaten Alabama 16-0 in three games.
• Head Coach Robbie Church owns a 1-3 ledger against Alabama throughout his career.
EXPLANATION OF THE CRIMSON TIDE
• Alabama has an impressive 22-2-1 record this season and is 10-0 in SEC action.
• The Crimson Tide fell 1-0 to South Carolina in the SEC Championship, their only loss since August.
DUKE VS. THIS
• The Blue Devils are 38-19-9 all-time against SEC opponents. Duke is currently on a five-game winning streak against SEC opponents.
• In the NCAA tournament, the Blue Devils have an 8-1-5 record against SEC opponents, including a 4-0 list in their last four games.
A WIN WOULD…
• Send Duke to the NCAA College Cup for the fifth time in school history and fourth time as head coach Robbie Church (1992, 2011, 2015, 2017).
• Give Duke 16 wins in the season, which would make Church’s third most wins in a year in his 22 years at Duke – 23 (2017), 22 (2011), 16 (2021) and 16 (2018) . It will also take fifth place on Duke’s all-time list.
STRONG DEFENSE…
• The Blue Devils’ defense continues to shine in the postseason as Duke have conceded just two goals in their last five games, including three shutouts.
• Texas was among the top 10 for goals and the Blue Devils conceded just seven shots, two of them on target. Alabama is No. 1 nationally with 73 goals before the game.
• Overall, Duke have conceded just four goals in their last eight games.
• Duke has had 11 shutouts this season Ruthie Jones has six in goal.
IN NCAA TOURNAMENT
• The Blue Devils are going into their 28th all-time NCAA championship, holding an overall record of 48-23-11 in 82 tournament games.
• The Blue Devils are 41-16-10 under Robbie Church in the NCAA championship. He has led Duke to the big dance in 20 of his 22 seasons at Durham.
• Duke has made the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship nine times in the past 12 seasons (since 2011).
NCAA QUARTERFINALS PARTICIPATION SINCE 2011
Rk Team appearances (last)
1. State of Florida 10 (2022)
2nd Duke 9 (2022)
3. Stanford 7 (2019)
UCLA 7 (2022)
5. North Carolina 6 (2022)
Virginia 6 (2022)
SCHOOL RECORD SEASON…
• Sophomore Michelle Cooper continues to rewrite the Duke record book as she is in her second season with the Blue Devils.
• She now has a school record of 45 points, beating Laura Weinberg’s 44 from 2012. Cooper’s 45 points are the highest in the ACC since the 2014 campaign (Makenzy Doniak of Virginia at 51).
• Cooper’s six multiple-goal games this season also broke Kim DeCesare’s 2012 record of five.
• Cooper’s 17 goals this season comes just short of matching Kelly Walbert’s 1994 record of 18.
• As a team, Duke has 54 assists to reach sixth place on Blue Devil’s single-season charts.
NCAA EXPERIENCE
• Duke has a roster consisting of three graduate students and six seniors who have competed in numerous NCAA tournament competitions.
• The Blue Devils have advanced to three consecutive NCAA Elite Eights, the 2019 second round and the 2018 round of 16.
• Delaney Graham and Mackenzie Pluck have both played in 15 NCAA tournament games and played 2,135 minutes combined. Jenna Royson played in 10 games and helped Georgetown rack up four shutouts in NCAA games in the last four seasons. She helped lead Georgetown to the 2018 NCAA College Cup as a freshman.
• Ruthie Jones has scored in 11 NCAA tournament games for the Blue Devils and helped Duke to seven shutouts in the past four years. She has conceded just five goals in 11 games and has an average of .48 conceding with four shutouts.
• The senior division has increased their number of NCAA tournament wins every year they have been with Duke. They won one as freshmen, two as sophomores, and three as juniors. What does 2022 hold for the squad?
• Duke has 10 different players who have scored at least one in the NCAA tournament – Michelle Cooper (6), Olivia Migli (3), Emmy Durr (2), Mackenzie Pluck (2), Delaney Graham (2), Elle Piper (1), Kat Rader (1), Sophia Jones (1), Katie Groff (1) and Grace Watkins (1).
LAST TIME-OUT
• Duke received two goals from Michelle Cooper and the Blue Devils defeated third-placed South Carolina 2-1.
• Cooper scored in the 12th and 84th minutes while the Gamecocks scored with 90 seconds remaining.
IMPRESSIVE START IN 2022 NCAAS…
• Duke is averaging 21.7 shots per game and 2.3 goals in their first three games.
• Michelle Cooper has scored four goals and scored nine points in those competitions. Her nine points place her third at the 2022 tournament, while her four goals placed third.
• Duke has allowed just 18 shots and one goal in the NCAAs. The Blue Devils also only allowed five shots on goal.
• Alabama has the tournament’s best 14 goals, while Duke finished second lowest with one goal.
A full set of game notes can be found here.