Q&A With Women's Soccer Head Coach Robbie Church

Tomko: Duke Thrilled To Be Home For NCAA Tournament Opener

Q&A With Women's Soccer Head Coach Robbie Church

11/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer

By: Duke Sports Information

Duke women's soccer Head Coach Robbie Church took time out of his busy schedule this week to sit down with GoDuke.com as the Blue Devils prepare to face Virginia on Saturday in the NCAA College Cup Sweet 16. Duke owns a 14-5-3 and will face the Cavaliers for the second time this season after registering a 0-0 tie in double-overtime in Charlottesville, Va.

GoDuke.com: How does the team feel going into the Sweet 16?
Robbie Church: “There is a great deal of excitement that's back. Obviously when you start in August, play through the ACC, and get to the NCAA Tournament, you play three and a half months. It's an up and down season at times with emotions, especially with how we finished the season a little bit with a lot on the road and a couple losses we took at the end of the year, but you could see once the NCAA Tournament started the excitement coming back. Especially for us this year being at home and playing those games at home last weekend was huge. Moving into the Sweet 16 was one of those things we really wanted to do. One of the things we wanted to do with our program was be a consistent program. Last year we had a great run and got into the Elite Eight, but we want to show back up in the 16's and the 8's and the final fours, and not just do that every two, three years. We want to do that every single year. I am very proud of this team to come back and put ourselves back into the 16's. I think we're hungry to move on. I think that's going to be very very important. But there's a lot of excitement. There's a lot of hunger to be successful, and we are looking forward to going up to Charlottesville.”

GD: On how key it was to be at home for the first couple rounds:
RC: “I think it was huge for this team. Every team is different, every year is different. And also with how the ACC schedule fell, and how the academic schedule fell, I think a combination of both of those had taken a toll on our team physically and mentally -- definitely as much mentally as anything late in the year. But with the ACC Tournament being in Cary and to be able to stay at home, I think that started the process. We did get eliminated early, but you know the bright side of that was we had some time to get completely off, get away, step away, recharge our batteries, and then come back and get our legs back. You could definitely see that in our play, that we got our legs back. We were able to be a lot more mobile, and be more aggressive both offensively and defensively. So then this week we tried to do the same thing. We took off Monday, we trained Tuesday, we took off Wednesday, and now we are going to train Thursday and Friday. So, I think what's key for us, for this team this year, is that we feel good, we're fresh, we're energized, we're excited, and all of those I think are still part of our team.”

GD: On the offense starting to find its niche again:
RC: “I think it started a bit with Boston College in the ACC Tournament. What we look at is the opportunities that we have. We understand that at tournament time, goals are tougher to come by. And against Boston College, spurts of the game we started to create more opportunities than we did against Virginia Tech and Virginia and down in Florida with Miami and Florida State. So it started to come back in spurts against Boston College, and I think we took it to a higher level in the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, we were superior than Radford was, but we played well against Radford. We created opportunities, we moved the ball well, we played at our higher level, we played with confidence, and we got a lot of confidence out of scoring goals. Scoring five goals in an NCAA Tournament game is a lot of goals to score at this level. And I think it showed when we came out against William & Mary. We scored an early goal, and I think that is the key, and will be a key as we go into the University of Virginia. We've got to play well early in the match, and we started to talk about that on Tuesday as we trained, and we will talk about that the next three days. We must come out and be very aggressive and very hungry early in the match. There were some games that we did falter in, either we didn't score like against Miami or Virginia, or fell behind at Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Boston College early. When we played well against Clemson, Radford, and William & Mary we had great starts. So we have to get a great start. That's going to be a key Saturday night.”

GD: On Cassidy Power's Maturity:
RC: “Cassidy has been an absolutely great story all year. As a coach, this is kind of why you are in this profession, to see a young lady like her grow. To see a young lady like her getting an opportunity and really taking advantage of it. She's just done a fantastic job, and I think Nathan Kipp, our goalkeeper coach, deserves a lot of credit for the job he's done with her this year. And she's playing really well. She's playing at a high level. She was playing at a high level before this, but she took her play to another level last time we went to play the University of Virginia. There was no question about it. I think everybody on our team would say that the only reason we got a 0-0 tie at Virginia was how Cassidy played. She got us that tie. So we have got to give her a little bit more help on the offensive end this game. But she took it to another level, and she's carried on with that, she's trained hard, she's prepared herself. What was so impressive against William & Mary was that we completely dominated the game, but with about 14 minutes left in the match, we made a little mistake in the back. A William & Mary girl gave a really nice touch ball through and they had a player running in one-on-one against Cassidy, and she came up with a big save. They only had four shots but three of them were on goal, and I thought that all three saves were really good saves she had to have. Which shows to me that if she's under a lot of pressure like she was in Virginia she's going to respond. Even in games where we dominate she's still mentally in the game, and she came up with the big saves once we needed her. We couldn't be happier with her; she's playing at a great level. The kids believe in her, and the team believes in her. So we are just very fortunate to have her in our net for certain.”

GD: On the defense stepping up:
RC: “I am just so ecstatic with how well the backs are playing, and whoever we play. Sheila Kramer has not started the games, but she's played a lot of minutes, either as a center back or as an outside back. She's played really well. Molly Lester played very well against Radford. So the six back players that we've predominantly used are just playing great. I mean, Meaghan FitzGerald and Gretchen Miller are not healthy. There are some little nicks and bumps and things Meaghan's fought all year, but I thought they were great together. William & Mary had a great threat up front in their number 25 player. We talked about how she could beat us by herself. But they did not give her a look. I thought their communication, their marking and covering for each other was just really, really big time. And I think probably the unsung heroes of our teams all year long has been the play of Christie McDonald, Kelly McCann, and Sheila Kramer as she rotates in there with them and the outside players. I think they've done a fantastic job, and really probably haven't gotten enough credit. Christie McDonald has turned into an attacking force as an outside back. She is chewing up ground and getting into the teeth of defenses. She should have had a penalty kick against William & Mary. Last time when we had six shots against Virginia, she had three of them. So I think we are playing very good defense. Kelly McCann has done a fantastic job as a leader and a captain for us this year in her first year assuming that role. But she's so steady. You know what you are going to get with Kelly every time out there. She's playing at a very high level right now. And again, Sheila Kramer has probably one of the toughest jobs in sports. She doesn't know if she is going to play 50, 60, 70 minutes a game or if she is only going to play 25 minutes a game. She doesn't know if she is going to be center back or outside back. But she's done all of that just very, very well.”

GD: On what the team must do to be successful Saturday at Virginia:
RC: “It's a tough game going into the University of Virginia. But it's a game that I think we are excited about, and that we all know we can win. I think that we've got to generate more offense then we did last time we went down there. We didn't generate enough offense. Once we win the ball, we've got to keep the ball a little bit. Possession will be a key. We can't win, turn it over, defend, defend, win, turn it back over, and then have to defend again. We've got to keep the ball. I think our outside players, our outside forwards, and we rotate a number of those players, Kelly Hathorn and Cody Newman, Marybeth Kreger and Carey Goodman, those players are going to be very important. People really clamp down, especially in the ACC, on KayAnne Gummersall because of what a fantastic year she's had. So I think other attacking players, Elisabeth Redmond coming from the central part of the midfield and Lorraine Quinn coming out of midfield, will be important. They are two very special players for us. But I think offensively we have got to play some combinations in midfield, and then we have got to be able to, when we get to the final third, really be able execute. You know with Virginia you aren't going to get a lot of good looks at goal, but we'll get two to four good looks, and we've got to be ready for them. When they come, we have got to be ready to score on those looks.”