2020 Atlantic Coast Conference women's soccer season

The 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference women's soccer season was the 32nd season of women's varsity soccer in the conference.

Florida State and North Carolina shared the regular season title. The Seminoles won the 2020 ACC tournament over the Tar Heels, 3–2.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Team Stadium Capacity Boston College Eagles Newton Soccer Complex 2,500 Clemson Tigers Riggs Field 6,500 Duke Blue Devils Koskinen Stadium 7,000 Florida State Seminoles Seminole Soccer Complex 1,600 Louisville Cardinals Lynn Stadium 5,300 Miami Hurricanes Cobb Stadium 500 North Carolina Tar Heels Dorrance Field 5,025 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Alumni Stadium 2,500 Pittsburgh Panthers Ambrose Urbanic Field 735 Syracuse Orange SU Soccer Stadium 5,000 Virginia Cavaliers Klöckner Stadium 8,000 Virginia Tech Hokies Thompson Field 2,500 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Spry Stadium 3,000

1. Georgia Tech does not sponsor women's soccer 2. NC State decided to opt out of the 2020 season.

Coaches

Head coaching records

Team Head coach Years at school Overall record Record at school ACC record Boston College Jason Lowe 2 8–8–2 8–8–2 1–8–1 Clemson Eddie Radwanski 10 232–125–35 93–60–22 39–46–8 Duke Robbie Church 20 331–175–66 244–126–55 93–59–31 Florida State Mark Krikorian 16 351–96–33 276–66–30 103–32–25 Louisville Karen Ferguson-Dayes 20 182–161–37 182–161–37 23–27–10 Miami Sarah Barnes 3 71–59–19 11–18–5 5–13–2 North Carolina Anson Dorrance 42 833–68–38 833–68–38 200–26–10 NC State Tim Santoro 8 62–70–14 62–70–14 19–46–8 Notre Dame Nate Norman 3 77–53–16 19–18–2 8–10–2 Pittsburgh Randy Waldrum 3 408–130–33 9–22–4 9–21–2 Syracuse Nicky Adams 2 90–66–25 3–11–2 1–7–1 Virginia Steve Swanson 20 419–157–59 315–94–48 125–44–20 Virginia Tech Charles Adair 10 118–53–20 118–53–20 42–39–13 Wake Forest Tony da Luz 23 308–214–50 263-173-48 87–102–22

Notes Records shown are prior to the 2020 season Years at school includes the 2020 season

Pre-season

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the season

On September 4, 2020, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced the fall Olympic sports schedule, which included the schedule for women's soccer. The men's soccer season will begin in September, 2020 instead of the originally planned August, and conclude on November 1. The season will culminate with the 2020 ACC Women's Soccer tournament, which will have the usual eight teams, but all games will be played at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

On January 26, 2021, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced that no league matches will be played in the spring. However, teams were permitted to play non-conference matches, that will count toward their overall records. The winner of the 2020 ACC Women's Soccer tournament, Florida State, would receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Hermann Trophy Watchlist Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a preseason MAC Hermann Trophy watch list was released in January instead of August. Eight players from ACC schools were named to the watchlist.

Player Class Position School Maycee Bell Sophomore DF North Carolina Emina Ekic Senior MF Louisville Jaelin Howell Junior MF Florida State Rachel Jones Junior FW North Carolina Sophie Jones Sophomore MF Duke Brianna Pinto Junior MF North Carolina Alexa Spaanstra Junior FW Virginia Yujie Zhao Junior MF Florida State

Pre-season poll The 2020 ACC Preseason Poll was announced on September 8, 2020. The defending regular season champions, North Carolina were voted to repeat their regular season crown. Florida State was voted in second place. The leagues 14 head coaches also voted on a preseason All-ACC team. Full results for the coaches poll and preseason team are shown below.

Pre-season Coaches Poll

1 North Carolina 129 (8) 2 Florida State 123 (3) 3 Virginia 113 (2) 4 Duke 98 5 Clemson 86 6 Notre Dame 79 7 Louisville 77 8 Virginia Tech 64 9 Wake Forest 50 10 Pittsburgh 42 11 Boston College 35 12 Miami 27 13 Syracuse 13

Source:

Pre-season All-ACC Team Position Player Class School Goalkeeper Gabby Kouzelos Senior Louisville Defender Delaney Graham Junior Duke Emily Fox Senior North Carolina Malia Berkely Senior Florida State Maycee Bell Sophomore North Carolina Midfielder Jaelin Howell Junior Florida State Yujie Zhao Junior Florida State Emina Ekic Senior Louisville Brianna Pinto Junior North Carolina Forward Diana Ordoñez Sophomore Virginia Alexa Spaanstra Junior Virginia

Source:

Regular season

Conference matrix

The table below shows head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team plays seven matches. Each team does not play every other team.   Boston CollegeClemsonDukeFlorida StateLouisvilleMiamiNorth CarolinaNotre DamePittsburghSyracuseVirginiaVirginia TechWake Forestvs. Boston College – – 1–0 – 2–0 – 3–1 2–0 4–3 1–3 2–1 3–0 –vs. Clemson – – 1–0 2–0 – – 2–0 1–2 1–2 (OT) – 0–3 0–3 0–2vs. Duke 0–1 0–1 – 1–0 – 1–3 2–0 – – 0–4 1–1 (2OT) – 0–0 (2OT)vs. Florida State – 0–2 0–1 – 0–1 – – 0–5 1–4 – 3–4 0–4 0–4vs. Louisville 0–2 – – 1–0 – 0–3 3–1 1–0 – 0–3 2–0 0–1 –vs. Miami – – 3–1 – 3–0 – – 6–0 2–0 1–0 3–0 8–2 1–0vs. North Carolina 1–3 0–2 0–2 – 1–3 – – 0–2 – 0–2 – 0–1 1–4vs. Notre Dame 0–2 2–1 – 5–0 0–1 0–6 2–0 – – 0–2 – – 1–0vs. Pittsburgh 3–4 2–1 (OT) – 4–1 – 0–2 – – – 0–2 2–1 (OT) 2–0 1–0vs. Syracuse 3–1 – 4–0 – 3–0 0–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 – 5–3 – –vs. Virginia 1–2 3–0 1–1 (2OT) 4–3 0–2 0–3 – – 1–2 (OT) 3–5 – – –vs. Virginia Tech 0–3 3–0 – 4–0 1–0 2–8 1–0 – 0–2 – – – 3–4vs. Wake Forest – 2–0 0–0 (2OT) 4–0 – 0–1 4–1 0–1 0–1 – – 4–3 –Total 1–7–0 5–3–0 4–2–2 8–0–0 4–4–0 0–8–0 8–0–0 4–4–0 3–5–0 1–7–0 5–2–1 4–4–0 3–4–1

Rankings

Fall 2020

United Soccer + Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week

  Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Final Boston College Clemson 3 3 6 4 3 3 5 5 7 6Duke 7 11 7 5 4 5 6 6 5 5Florida State 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1Louisville 13 13 13 Miami North Carolina 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2NC State Notre Dame 14 14 13 14 12 13 14 Pittsburgh 12 14 Syracuse Virginia 11 10 10 11 10 10 10 9 9 10 Virginia Tech Wake Forest

Spring 2021

United Soccer + Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week

  Pre Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Final Boston College Clemson 9 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 6Duke 5 5 5 5 7 7 9 8 7Florida State 1 (28) 1 (31) 1 (33) 1 (30) 1 (31) 1 (33) 1 (32) 1 (28) 2 (1)Louisville Miami North Carolina 2 (1) 2 (2) 2 2 (1) 2 (1) 2 2 2 (2) 3 (1)NC State Notre Dame RV RV Pittsburgh Syracuse Virginia 8 9 9 10 10 12 12 13 4 (1) Virginia Tech RV RV Wake Forest

Top Drawer Soccer + Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week

  Pre Wk 1 Wk 2 Wk 3 Wk 4 Wk 5 Wk 6 Wk 7 Wk 8 Wk 9 Wk 10 Wk 11 Wk 12 Wk 13 Final Boston College Clemson 17 17 17 16 12 11 11 11 11 11 9 9 8 8 8Duke 11 11 11 11 9 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6Florida State 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2Louisville Miami North Carolina 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4NC State Notre Dame Pittsburgh Syracuse Virginia 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 3 6 5 5 4 3 3 Virginia Tech Wake Forest

Players of the Week

Fall

Week Offensive Player of the week Defensive Player of the week Reference Week 1 – September 15 Marykate McGuire, Duke Kate McKay, Pittsburgh Week 2 – September 22 Caroline Conti, Clemson Hensley Hancuff, Clemson Week 3 – September 29 Izzy Brown, North Carolina Maycee Bell, North Carolina Claire Constant, Virginia Week 4 – October 6 Emina Ekic, Louisville Alia Skinner, Virginia Tech Week 5 – October 13 Amanda West, Pittsburgh Caitlin Cosme, Duke Week 6 – October 20 Clara Robbins, Florida State Kaitlyn Parks, Wake Forest Alexa Spaanstra, Virginia Week 7 – October 27 Jenna Bike, Boston College Mattie Interian, Notre Dame Emily Gray, Virginia Tech Week 8 – November 3 Tori Powell, Virginia Tech Cristina Roque, Florida State

Spring

Week Offensive Player of the week Defensive Player of the week Reference Week 1 – March 3 Caroline Conti, Clemson Talia Staude, Virginia Week 2 – March 9 Landy Mertz, Pittsburgh Caitlin Cosme, Duke Week 3 – March 16 Selena Fortich, Miami Melissa Dagenais, Miami Week 4 – March 23 Maliah Morris, Clemson Kaitlyn Parks, Wake Forest Week 5 – March 30 Brianna Pinto, North Carolina Kaitlyn Parks (2), Wake Forest Week 6 – April 6 Amanda West, Pittsburgh Mia Gyau, Duke Week 7 – April 13 Megan Bornkamp, Clemson Ruthie Jones, Duke Week 8 – April 20 Toni Starova, NC State Maria Echezarreta, NC State

Postseason

ACC Tournament

NCAA tournament

Seed School 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship 1 Florida State W 3–0 vs. Milwaukee - (WakeMed Soccer Park) W 3–1 vs. Penn State - (WakeMed Soccer Park) T 0–0 (5–3 PKs) vs. No. 9 Duke - (WakeMed Soccer Park) T 0–0 (3–0 PKs) vs. Virginia - (WakeMed Soccer Park) T 1–1 (1–4 PKs) vs. No. 11 Santa Clara - (WakeMed Soccer Park) 2 North Carolina W 2–0 vs. Denver - (Sportsplex at Matthews) W 1–0 vs. Washington - (WakeMed Soccer Park) W 1–0 vs. No. 7 Texas A&M - (WakeMed Soccer Park) L 1–3 vs. No. 11 Santa Clara - (WakeMed Soccer Park) 9 Duke W 2–1 (2OT) vs. Arizona State - (Johnson Stadium) W 1–0 vs. Ole Miss - (WakeMed Soccer Park) T 0–0 (3–5 PKs) vs. No. 1 Florida State - (WakeMed Soccer Park) 14 Clemson T 1–1 (5–4 PKs) vs. Rutgers - (Eakes Athletics Complex) T 1–1 (6–5 PKs) vs. No. 3 UCLA – (WakeMed Soccer Park) L 0–1 vs. No. 11 Santa Clara - (WakeMed Soccer Park) Virginia W 3–1 vs. SIU Edwardsville – (WakeMed Soccer Park) W 2–0 vs. No. 12 BYU – (WakeMed Soccer Park) W 3–0 vs. Rice – (WakeMed Soccer Park) W 1–0 vs. No. 4 TCU – (WakeMed Soccer Park) T 0–0 (0–3 PKs)vs. No. 1 Florida State – (WakeMed Soccer Park)W–L (%): Total:

Awards and honors

ACC Awards

2020 ACC Women's Soccer Individual Awards Award Recipient(s) Offensive Player of the Year Emina Ekic – Louisville Coach of the Year Mark Krikorian – Florida State Defensive Player of the Year Malia Berkely – Florida State Midfielder of the Year Jaelin Howell – Florida State Freshman of the Year Lia Godfrey – Virginia

2020 ACC Women's Soccer All-Conference Teams First Team Second Team Third Team All-Freshman TeamSophie Jones, So., M, Duke Malia Berkely, Sr., D, Florida State Jaelin Howell, Jr., M, Florida State Yujie Zhao, Jr., M, Florida State Emina Ekic, Sr., M, Louisville Maycee Bell, So., D, North Carolina Claudia Dickey, Jr., GK, North Carolina Emily Fox, Sr., D, North Carolina Rachel Jones, Jr., F, North Carolina Brianna Pinto, Jr., M, North Carolina Alexa Spaanstra, Jr., F, VirginiaMakenna Morris, Fr., D, Clemson Mariana Speckmaier, Sr., F, Clemson Emily Madril, Jr., D, Florida State Clara Robbins, Jr., M, Florida State Cristina Roque, Fr., GK, Florida State Taylor Otto, Sr., M, North Carolina Sammi Fisher, Sr., M, Notre Dame Amanda West, So., F, Pittsburgh Lia Godfrey, Fr., M, Virginia Rebecca Jarrett, Jr., F, Virginia Diana Ordóñez, So., F, VirginiaMegan Bornkamp, Fr., D, Clemson Hal Hershfelt, So., M, Clemson Courtney Jones, Jr., M, Clemson Delaney Graham, Jr., D, Duke Taylor Mitchell, Sr., D, Duke Jenna Nighswonger, So., M, Florida State Gabby Kouzelos, Sr., GK, Louisville Sam Meza, Fr., M, North Carolina Kiki Van Zanten, So., F, Notre Dame Emily Gray, Jr., M, Virginia Tech Hannah Betfort, Sr., D, Wake ForestMegan Bornkamp, D, Clemson Makenna Morris, D, Clemson Jody Brown, F, Florida State Cristina Roque, GK, Florida State Kaitlyn Zipay, F, Florida State Talia DellaPeruta, F, North Carolina Sam Meza, M, North Carolina Lia Godfrey, M, Virginia Samar Guidry, D, Virginia Tori Powell, F, Virginia Tech Sophie Faircloth, D, Wake Forest

2021 NWSL Draft

FW Forward MF Midfielder DF Defender GK Goalkeeper Player Team Round Pick # Position SchoolEmily FoxRacing Louisville11DNorth CarolinaBrianna PintoSky Blue13MNorth CarolinaEmina EkicRacing Louisville15MLouisvilleTaylor OttoRacing Louisville211MNorth CarolinaTaryn TorresSky Blue FC323MVirginiaAlissa GorzakChicago Red Stars435FVirginiaMariana SpeckmaierWashington Spirit439FClemsonTess BoadeSky Blue FC440FDuke

References