DURHAM, N.C. - Blue Devils Mollie Pathman and Kelly Cobb assisted the United States Under-20 Women's National Team as it played its first match of the FIFA U-20 World Cup against Ghana early this morning in Hiroshima, Japan. The United States dominated the game for a majority of the match and came out with a 4-0 victory.

Pathman, a junior from Durham, N.C., started the game at defense for the United States and helped the team post its 11^th shutout victory of the year. The team improved its international record to 13-1-0 in 2012 with the win. Kelly Cobb, a sophomore forward for the Blue Devils, did not see action in the game. 

 The USA's first legitimate scoring threat came on a corner kick in the 20^th minute of the game when Vanessa DiBernardo played a beautiful ball that found the head of Morgan Brian. The ball deflected off of the crossbar, ricocheted off the leg of a defender from Ghana, and went into the net for a 1-0 lead. In the second half, Maya Hayes scored a hat trick to lead the Americans to the victory, and was named USSoccer.com Woman of the Match.

The United States will play its second game of the tournament against China on Aug. 23 at 5:50 am ET ESPNU, and will face Germany on Aug. 27 at 2:50 am ET on ESPN2. All of the games can also be viewed live on ESPN3.