# 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 | 3–11–2 | 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

| Predicted finish | Team | Points (1st place) |
| 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 |
| Defender | Emily Fox | Senior | North Carolina |
| Defender | Malia Berkely | Senior | Florida State |
| Defender | Maycee Bell | Sophomore | North Carolina |
| Midfielder | Jaelin Howell | Junior | Florida State |
| Midfielder | Yujie Zhao | Junior | Florida State |
| Midfielder | Emina Ekic | Senior | Louisville |
| Midfielder | Brianna Pinto | Junior | North Carolina |
| Forward | Diana Ordoñez | Sophomore | Virginia |
| Forward | 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 College | Clemson | Duke | Florida State | Louisville | Miami | North Carolina | Notre Dame | Pittsburgh | Syracuse | Virginia | Virginia Tech | Wake Forest |
| vs. 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 | 0–2 |
| vs. 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 | 0–4 |
| vs. 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 | 1–0 |
| vs. North Carolina | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | – | 1–3 | – | – | 0–2 | – | 0–2 | – | 0–1 | 1–4 |
| vs. Notre Dame | 0–2 | 2–1 | – | 5–0 | 0–1 | 0–6 | 2–0 | – | – | 0–2 | – | – | 1–0 |
| vs. Pittsburgh | 3–4 | 2–1 (OT) | – | 4–1 | – | 0–2 | – | – | – | 0–2 | 2–1 (OT) | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| vs. 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 | – | – | – | 3–4 |
| vs. 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 | 6 |
| Duke | 7 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Florida State | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Louisville | | | 13 | 13 | 13 | | | | | |
| Miami | | | | | | | | | | |
| North Carolina | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| NC 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 | 6 |
| Duke | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Florida 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 | 8 |
| Duke | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Florida State | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Louisville | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Miami | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| North Carolina | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| NC 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 |
| 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 |
| Week 3 – September 29 | Izzy Brown, 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 |
| Week 6 – October 20 | Alexa Spaanstra, Virginia | Kaitlyn Parks, Wake Forest |
| Week 7 – October 27 | Jenna Bike, Boston College | Mattie Interian, Notre Dame |
| Week 7 – October 27 | Emily Gray, Virginia Tech | Mattie Interian, Notre Dame |
| Week 8 – November 3 | Tori Powell, Virginia Tech | Cristina Roque, Florida State |

#### Spring

| Week | Offensive Player of the week | Defensive Player of the week |
| 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

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Florida State | 4 | | | |
| 5 | Duke | 0 | | | |
| 5 | Duke | 0 | 1 | Florida State | 3 |
| | | | 2 | North Carolina | 2 |
| 2 | North Carolina | 2 | 2 | North Carolina | 2 |
| 3 | Virginia | 0 | | | |

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | School | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Championship |
| 1 | Florida State | BYE | 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 | BYE | 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 | BYE | 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 | BYE | 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 (%): | 1–0–0 (1.000) | 4–0–1 (.900) | 4–0–1 (.900) | 2–1–2 (.600) | 0–1–2 (.333) | 0–0–1 (.500) Total: 11–2–7 (.725) |

## 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 Team |
| Sophie 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, Virginia | Makenna 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, Virginia | Megan 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 Forest | Megan 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 | School |
| Emily Fox | Racing Louisville | 1 | 1 | D | North Carolina |
| Brianna Pinto | Sky Blue | 1 | 3 | M | North Carolina |
| Emina Ekic | Racing Louisville | 1 | 5 | M | Louisville |
| Taylor Otto | Racing Louisville | 2 | 11 | M | North Carolina |
| Taryn Torres | Sky Blue FC | 3 | 23 | M | Virginia |
| Alissa Gorzak | Chicago Red Stars | 4 | 35 | F | Virginia |
| Mariana Speckmaier | Washington Spirit | 4 | 39 | F | Clemson |
| Tess Boade | Sky Blue FC | 4 | 40 | F | Duke |