They call him "Coach" now, not Tim.

"There's a difference when you look at me as an assistant than when you look at me as the head coach," said Tim Zundel, who is in his first season as the Duquesne women's soccer coach after being an assistant the previous four years. "I told them to call me 'Coach' because I wanted to change their mentality of looking at me."

Zundel, 29, also has changed Duquesne's look on the field.

The Dukes (11-6) set a school record for victories in a season and are seeded third in the single-elimination Atlantic 10 Conference tournament with a quarterfinal game against No. 6 Richmond tomorrow at Charlotte, N.C. Duquesne defeated Richmond, 2-1, in the regular season.

Duquesne will be making its second appearance in the tournament since it joined the conference in 1995.

Zundel was named the Duquesne interim coach this past July after James Walker left to become an assistant coach with the Penn State men's soccer team.

"It's been a change, not as big an adjustment as you would think because I was pretty involved as an assistant and I already knew all the players," Zundel said. "We were a good team with a lot of talent last year [5-9-2], but the pieces of the puzzle just didn't seem to fit. We've been able to bring this team together and made it enjoyable again.

"We weren't winning last year and it was a big stress on the players and the coaches."

One of Zundel's most significant moves was to hire Caitlin Hughes as an assistant.

"I was looking for a woman because there are some things female players will say to a woman that they won't say to a man. They look at her as a big sister, someone they can go to," Zundel said. "Her personality is exactly what we needed. She's carefree and outgoing, but she can also be tough when it's needed."

Zundel tweaked Duquesne's style of play, adding more pressure on the ball defensively and more movement and possessions offensively.

Duquesne has a balanced scoring attack, led by Audra Mathews' 15 points with five goals and 10 assists. Samantha Kaiser and Faye Rasmussen are tied for the team high with six goals apiece.

Host Charlotte is the top seed in the tournament.

"Our goal is to make the semifinals," Zundel said. "We'll readjust our goals if we do that. Our ultimate, ultimate goal is to get to the NCAA tournament."

NCAA-bound soccer

• No. 3 seed Slippery Rock (16-4-1) will meet No. 6 Adelphi (12-5) Friday in the first round of the Division II Women's Northeast regional at West Chester.

• Penn State Behrend (12-5-3) will play at 7 p.m. today at Washington & Jefferson (13-4-3) in the first round of the Division III men's tournament. Behrend defeated W&J, 6-1, in the regular season.

• Westminster (14-4-3) will play host to Manhattanville (7-11-3) at 1 p.m. today in the first round of the Division III women's tournament.

Football milestones

Carnegie Mellon (5-4) has clinched its 33rd consecutive non-losing season. ... Robert Morris (3-6) has lost five consecutive games for the third time in school history. The Colonials never have lost six in a row. ... Grove City's Andrew DiDonato, a sophomore from South Fayette, already is the school's all-time passing leader with 3,023 yards. ... Edinboro's Trevor Harris set two school season records with 2,893 yards passing and 28 touchdowns. ... Bethany's Matt Cruse is tied for the school season record with nine touchdown receptions.

CCAC's new coach

Frank Halloran, an assistant coach the past eight seasons, is the interim head men's basketball coach at CCAC-Allegheny this season while Bill Shay takes a year off to write a book. The Cougars opened the season with two losses in Maryland and will host Lehigh Community College Friday night.