WASHINGTON – The American University field hockey team is back in the NCAA Tournament First Round for the 11th time in program history after receiving a bye through the Opening Round. The Eagles will open against three-seed Duke at 12 p.m. ET at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium in Durham, N.C. The winner will advance to face the winner of Liberty vs Syracuse at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

THE QUICK HITS

• American claimed its 13th Patriot League title on Saturday, Nov. 4, with a 1-0 win over Lafayette at home at Jacobs Complex. The win came on the heels of the team's 11th undefeated conference season and 13th regular season title.
• This will be the Eagles' 12th NCAA Tournament appearance and third time meeting the Blue Devils in the first round; Duke is 2-0 over American in the tournament with the last meeting coming in 2016.
• American placed four on the Patriot League All-Tournament Team, starting with Tournament MVP Tayla-Jade Weiss. The junior defender played every minute of both games throughout the tournament and anchored the defensive line that refused to let Lafayette get any goals past for the shutout. She also scored a goal and had an assist in the semifinal matchup with Bucknell.
• Fifth-year Charllene Boshoff, senior Bryn Underwood, and Agustina Roffo joined Weiss as members of the 11-player All-Tournament Team.

SCOUTING THE BLUE DEVILS

• The Blue Devils went 16-4 overall and 5-1 in the ACC, falling 2-0 to No. 2 North Carolina in the ACC Championship game after shutting out Wake Forest and No. 10 Louisville in earlier rounds. Duke had a huge turnaround this season after going 0-6 in the ACC in 2022.
• Duke is making its 19th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and is a top-four seed for the eighth time. The Blue Devils have advanced to the semifinals six times and to the NCAA Championship four times.
• Duke has recorded eight shutouts this season, the most since the 2003 team had eight, ed in part by goalkeeper Piper Hampsch's goals against average is 0.97 which leads the ACC and ranks her at fourth nationally.
• The Blue Devils' offense has come alive in the second half of games this season. Duke has 26 goals in the final two quarters, compared to 17 in the first two periods.
• Duke has taken a lead into halftime eight times and is 7-1 in those contests. The Blue Devils have been tied after the first 30 minutes eight times and are 7-1 in those contests.
• Duke has been quite successful on penalty corners this season, scoring 24 goals on 111 penalty corners - a 22 percent success rate. At North Carolina and again versus Wake Forest in the ACC quarterfinal, Charlie van Oirschot redirected a sweep from Macy Szukics. Josephine Palde had the put-back on an Issy Carey sweep against the Demon Deacons.

SERIES HISTORY

• The Blue Devils are 2-0 against American in the NCAA Tournament and 9-3 when playing at home.
• The last time the two teams faced off was in 2016 in the first round of the NCAA tournament when Duke took the 3-nil win at home to advance.
• The two teams met in the NCAA First Round in 2003 and 2016. The 2003 Blue Devils advanced to the NCAA title game.

LAST TIME OUT

• In the Patriot League Championship against Lafayette, the first thirty minutes of the championship contest was evenly paced back and forth, but it was the third that the tides began to shift.
• Coming out of the halftime break, the Eagles pushed forward, not allowing Lafayette a single shot in the third frame and taking two of their own. American also earned two more penalty corners during the period to push their total to five through 45 minutes of gameplay.
• It was less than thirty seconds into the third period when AU earned their sixth penalty corner. Inserted by fifth-year Megan Hoffman it was slapped by Willemse toward the frame where Roffo at the right post redirected the ball and sent it between the legs of a Leopard defender into the cage.
• Despite pulling their goalkeeper in the 56th minute to gain the advantage of an extra field player, Lafayette was unable to break through the defense anchored by Weiss to find an equalizer and force overtime and the Eagles took the 1-nil victory.

MAJOR AWARDS

• American placed four players on the All-League Teams, including Charllene Boshoff, who won Defensive Player of the Year.
• Boshoff and fellow South African Tayla-Jade Weiss, a junior defender for the Eagles, were both named to the All-Patriot League First Team. Weiss was also named the Patriot League Tournament MVP after the Eagles secured their victory.
• On the All-League Second Team was senior goalkeeper Bryn Underwood and freshman standout Emilia Winkler.
• Head Coach Steve Jennings, in his 25th year at the helm, was named the PL Coach of the Year for the 11th time in 22 years in the Patriot League.

SCHOLAR-ATHLETES

• Underwood was announced as the League's 2023 Field Hockey Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She became the 13th player in program history to receive this honor.
• This also marks her third consecutive Academic All-Patriot League Team. Underwood is now tied for the most in program history with Aidan Rossman, Jaclyn Anspach, Jess Davis, and Maura Jacobs.
• It was the first appearance on the All-Academic team for Weiss, the junior defender from South Africa who has a cumulative GPA of 3.98. She is studying business administration with a focus in analytics.

For the latest on American University Field Hockey, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Twitter (@AU_FieldHockey) and Instagram (@aufieldhockey).