Jones Early Goal Pushes No. 2 Duke Past ECU, 1-0

Thursday, August 18

Greenville, N.C.

7 P.M.

Duke University

1-0-0, 0-0-0

East Carolina

0-1-0, 0-0-0

Duke

East Carolina

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Jones Early Goal Pushes No. 2 Duke Past ECU, 1-0

8/18/2022 9:29:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)CHURCH INTERVIEW JONES INTERVIEW

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Boosted by an early goal by senior Sophie Jones and solid defense by the Blue Devils, the second-ranked Duke women's soccer team opened the 2022 campaign on Thursday at East Carolina with a 1-0 victory in front of a school-record crowd of 1,335 fans at Johnson Stadium in Greenville, N.C.

The Blue Devils moved to 1-0 on the early season, while the Pirates fell to 0-1.

How It Happened
•   Senior Sophie Jones got things started for the Blue Devils in the sixth minute with a long-range shot from 28 yards that went into the far-right corner of the net over the head of the ECU keeper. Graduate student Delaney Graham tallied her 13th career assist on Jones' fourth career tally.
•   The Blue Devils added eight more shots the rest of the first half, as Duke held a 9-0 advantage in attempts at the end of the first 45 minutes. Blue Devil rookie Kat Rader collected five shots in the first stanza.
•   In the 57th minute, Rader fed graduate student Mackenzie Pluck a perfect through ball in front of the goal, but ECU keeper Maeve English made a diving stop to keep the score 1-0 in favor of Duke.
•   Duke had a free kick just outside the box in the final two minutes and the ECU keeper made a diving stop to her left on Rader's attempt.
•   The Blue Devils outshot the Pirates, 6-1, in the second half.
•   For the contest, Duke held a 15-1 advantage in shots with seven on goal.

Notes
•   Senior goalkeeper Ruthie Jones played the full 90 minutes and tallied her 20th career shutout.
•   The Blue Devils featured three freshmen in the starting lineup (Kat Rader, Devin Lynch and Elle Piper), which is the most in a season opener since 2014. They mark the 36th, 37th and 38th rookies to start their collegiate debut under head coach Robbie Church.
•   Duke has now won nine out of its last 11 road contests.
•   Head coach Robbie Church improved to 6-2 in true road openers.
•   The Blue Devils won their fifth straight season opener and seven out of the last eight.
•   Duke moved to 63-6-0 all-time against non-conference opponents from the state of North Carolina, including winners of 14 straight.
•   Duke improved to 3-0 all-time against East Carolina.

Quotes
"We are very, very happy with the win. It is hard to win on somebody's else field with a record crowd. They were really fired up and played hard. We all leave this field knowing that we are a better team than we showed here. We have to continue to keep getting better and grow. We will probably see similar stuff on Sunday night. So, we have to be better on Sunday in some of those crucial areas." – Duke head coach Robbie Church

Next Match
The Blue Devils will next welcome UNC Greensboro to Koskinen Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 21 at 6 p.m., for their 2022 home opener. The contest will be aired on ACC Network Extra. All kids in attendance wearing their youth team jersey will receive free admission to the game. Duke will also be signing autographs following the match as well.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWSOC".

#GoDuke