NORFOLK, VA (WTKR)- Fresh off its first ever Conference USA title, the Old Dominion women's soccer team looks to continue making history.
The Monarchs learned that they would face Duke in Durham to open up NCAA Tournament play during the Selection Show on Monday afternoon. It marks ODU's second ever appearance in the field and first since 2006. Players and coaches knew they were heading to the Big Dance, but there's still nothing like seeing your name appear on that line in the bracket.
"You can see the eyes light up," said head coach Angie Hind. "The kids feel special. They're like 'yeah, we made it now."
"I didn't know how I was going to feel," added senior forward Morgan Hall. "There were a lot of nerves, who were we going to play, but there was also a lot of excitement at the same time."
Old Dominion enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 13-4-1, earned the top seed in the Conference USA Tournament and went onto win that playoff. Duke is 13-3-1 on the year. Both the Monarchs and Blue Devils beat East Carolina but fell to North Carolina State. It will mark the first meeting between the two programs since 2018, a 1-0 Duke triumph in Durham.
"We have a good balance of when we can have some fun and when we can relax a little bit, but this team has the ability to really dial in and focus," noted Hind. "They want to be successful, they want to leave a footprint on this program and they're really dedicated and committed to that."
LSU and Memphis are the two other teams in the pod with ODU and Duke.
The Monarchs and Blue Devils kick off on Friday at 6:00 PM.
