DURHAM – Behind a brace from junior Maggie Graham, the second-ranked Duke women’s soccer team defeated UNC Greensboro, 3-1, on Sunday evening in the home opener at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils moved to 2-0 to start the season, while the Spartans dropped to 1-1. A native of Atlanta, Ga., Graham turned in the second multi-goal performance of her career on her way to notching her fourth and fifth career goals. How It Happened • For the second straight match, the Blue Devils got on the board early as junior Maggie Graham converted a penalty kick attempt at the 4:31 mark of the first half. Graham was taken down in the box as she was driving towards the goal. She connected on her fourth career tally. • Duke sophomore Michelle Cooper and junior Olivia Migli made their 2022 season debuts in the first half. Cooper was representing the U.S. at the FIFA U-20 World Cup and Migli was returning from an injury. • UNC Greensboro had its first looks at the goal in the 35th minute and were able to convert. Off a free kick, Sophie Joly received the ball on the right side of the box and fired a shot, but Duke goalkeeper Ruthie Jones made a diving stop. Maddy Gilhool was at the right place at the right time and tapped in the rebound off the save to even the score, 1-1. • As time was expiring at the end of the first half, Cooper fired a shot that was saved, but she grabbed the rebound and sent a perfect cross to senior Julia Burnell, who headed in her first career goal with one second on the clock. • At the end of the first half, Duke held a 13-2 advantage in shots. • Graham added her second goal of the match at the 69:43 mark off a corner kick from graduate student Mackenzie Pluck to give Duke a 3-1 advantage. • With her assist on Graham’s goal, Pluck now owns 22 career assists, which moved her up to tied for sixth on Duke’s all-time charts. • The Blue Devils held a 22-2 advantage in shots in the contest, including nine on target. • Ruthie Jones collected her 29th career victory in goal for Duke as she played the full 90 minutes with one save. Notes • Maggie Graham last notched two goals in a match at Syracuse as a freshman on Oct. 18, 2020. • Duke moved to 21-0-3 in home openers over the last 24 matches. • Overall, the Blue Devils are now 32-3-3 in home openers, while outscoring opponents by a 76-7 ledger over the last 22 contests. • Head coach Robbie Church is now 19-0-3 in home openers since arriving at Duke. • The Blue Devils improved to 74-6-0 all-time against non-conference opponents from the state of North Carolina, including 15 straight wins. • Duke moved to 49-7-7 at home in Koskinen Stadium since the 2017 campaign. Quotes “I think it was really great how the team responded. I wish we could do that without needing to get scored on first, but to see the team was really hungry to score and didn’t give up, even in the last minute of the first half was really impressive and really exciting.” – Duke junior Maggie Graham “To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the first half. Greensboro played well, but we had a lot of opportunities. We let a lot of opportunities get by us and we are not scoring those goals that are stretching out and killing the momentum of the other teams. I am really happy how we finished the second half. I thought our spacing was better, we moved the ball quicker and we changed our point of attack. I thought the people that came off the bench did a fantastic job today. There were a lot of positive things from the second half. This is important now with no overtime, we have to play 90 minutes and that is our challenge going into the second week of the regular season.” – Duke head coach Robbie Church Next Match Duke will next travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to face 11th-ranked Tennessee on Thursday, Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWSOC". #GoDuke

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