Graham Nets Brace to Help Lead No. 1 Duke Past Texas Tech in NCAA Second Round

Friday, November 22

Durham, N.C.

6:30 p.m.

Duke University

16-2-1, 9-0-1

Texas Tech

15-5-2, 8-1-2

Texas Tech

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Graham Nets Brace to Help Lead No. 1 Duke Past Texas Tech in NCAA Second Round

11/22/2024 10:19:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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DURHAM, N.C. – For the second straight contest, Duke women's soccer graduate student Maggie Graham collected a pair of goals to help lead the top-seeded Blue Devils to a 3-0 victory over 17th-ranked Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament second round on Friday evening inside Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils moved to 16-2-1 on the season and will next face 16th-ranked Michigan State on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 6 p.m., in the round of 16. Duke's victory marked the 12th-straight NCAA Tournament second round win in Durham and the 50th NCAA win in program history.

Duke advanced to the round of 16 for the 15th time under the direction of head coach Robbie Church and 20th time in Blue Devil lore. Duke also reached the round of 16 for the 14th time over the last 16 NCAA appearances.

How It Happened

Coming off scoring four goals in her first NCAA Tournament game last week against Howard, sophomore Mia Minestrella featured two early shots that were saved by Red Raider goalkeeper Faith Nguyen.
Texas Tech had a couple of chances in the ninth minute that were both blocked by blue Devil defenders.
With five minutes remaining in the half, graduate student Hannah Bebar sent in a corner kick from the left side that freshman Mary Long got a head on but the ball went just wide of the far post.
Duke was finally able to get on the board with 68 seconds remaining in the half.Fifth year Katie Groff sent a ball into the box that a Texas Tech cleared to the top of the box.Graduate student Maggie Graham beat the Red Raider defender to the ball and then finished into the bottom right corner of the net to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead at the half.
Duke held an 8-3 shot advantage at the break with Minestrella leading the charge with three.
The Blue Devils added to the lead, 2-0, early in the second half.Minestrella fed fifth year Ella Hase down the left side and drove towards the end line.Hase, who hails from Orland Park, Ill.,crossed a perfect ball in front of the goal where Graham flicked the ball over the keeper's head and into the goal for her second of the match at the 52:27 mark.
Duke added a third goal on the night in the 86th minute as freshman Sophia Recupero and sophomore Phoebe Goldthwaite fed the ball to sophomore Mia Oliaro, who blasted in her eighth goal of the season.
The Blue Devils finished with a 19-5 shot advantage on the evening.

Notes

With the 10 points on the night, Duke now owns 205 for the season, which is second all-time in the Blue Devil record charts.Duke needs three more to tie the record of 207 from 2012.
The Blue Devils now own 65 goals to also rank tied for second on the season charts and is one two goals away from tying the Duke record of 67, which was set in 1989.
Duke's 75 assists on the year also rank second all-time in Blue Devil history and needs two more to tie the record of 77 from 2012.
Duke scored a goal in the first half for the 17th time out of 19 matches this season, including seven straight.
Maggie Graham registered her team-best 13th and 14th goals of the season and fourth of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. She is the sixth Blue Devil to register four or more goals in a NCAA Tournament.
Graham collected her fifth career multi-goal performance and third of the season.She also notched her eighth career game-winning goal, which is now tied for 17th on Duke's all-time charts.
Ella Hase collected her tied for team-best 12th assists of the season in the second half.
Duke's three goals on Texas Tech marked the first time the Red Raiders have allowed three goals in a match since 2021.
The Blue Devils totaled 11 goals in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament, which is a new program record.
Mia Oliaro has now scored or assisted in 11 out of the last 12 matches.
Duke is now 70-14-10 at Koskinen Stadium since the 2017 season, including 30-3-1 in NCAA matches.
In goal, Leah Freeman collected her 28th career shutout and the Blue Devils now own 10 on the season as a team.

Quotes

"I knew that there was going to be a second ball that popped out somewhere. I was hoping it would be near me, and I just got a little lucky with my lankiness. I got a touch on it with my left foot, and I just needed to make good contact on it. I knew there was so much chaos happening in the box that there was a chance it might sneak through. Right when it connected with the goal, I was just so happy that we got that goal before half, because like Robbie [Church] said, it means the world to be up at halftime. That brought us so much momentum going into the second half."-- Duke graduate student Maggie Graham on the first goal
"First of all, let's talk about Texas Tech. I thought they came in with a great, great game plan. Obviously, Tom Stone means a lot to Duke University, means a lot to Duke soccer, Duke Athletics. I think he should be in our Hall of Fame with the career he had. He's a heck of a coach. He has coached at all levels, and we knew he was going to have his team ready and prepared. I felt he them really ready and prepared. I thought it took us a little bit to get going, but once we got through that first 20 minutes or so, I thought we started playing really, really well. Obviously, the goal at the end of the half, that's a big goal -- if it's 0-0 at halftime, (there is a) lot of belief in Texas Tech, when they go in their locker room, Tom will get them fired up and it could be a different thing. But scoring that goal was a really, really big goal. The field tilts at that time, probably the last 25 minutes of the first half, we were all over them and living on their side. We just couldn't quite get the last ball in and had some good opportunities. Goalkeeper played well for them, but getting that goal was really big, and then I thought we were really, really good in the second half. We ran hard, we pressed hard, we worked the whole half, whoever was in the game. So, I'm really proud. We're proud to be in the final 16. It's an honor to be still playing. We look forward to playing. It's going to be an interesting Friday to Sunday turnaround, which we don't have but we will work the next 48 hours on recovery. Get ourselves ready to go for Sunday against a really good Michigan State team."-- Duke head coach Robbie Church
"I thought we pressed pretty well in the first half, but I thought we kind of went to a different level in the second half, and it made it really hard for them to get their heads up and play forward. Then when they did play forward, I thought the backs did a great job of squeezing them and stepping into space so there was no space to play. They did a good job of front foot defending in the back. So, when the balls were played, they stepped in front of their place. Katie Groff I thought was outstanding and Cam Roller, I thought both of them were outstanding with it and stepping forward. There were long stretches that we had the ball, but the game was still tight. At that time it was 2-0 so anything can happen, a mistake, a flick, something would happen with it. Get two, one, momentum changes in their way. But I know it really workman like, solid effort. This is the second game we scored goals, 11 goals in two games. But more importantly, we have zeros on the board. We had another clean sheet. Obviously, in the NCAA Tournament, if you do that you have a really good chance of advancing. That's what we're trying to do is just continue to keep advancing. So now thoughts are on Michigan State and the final 16."-- Duke head coach Robbie Church

Next Match

Duke moved on to the NCAA Round of 16, which will take place Sunday, Nov. 24 at 6 p.m., inside Koskinen Stadium.The top-seeded Blue Devils will face Michigan State live on ESPN+.

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

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