Upcoming Event: Women's Soccer versus North Carolina on October 12, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Women's Soccer
vs North Carolina
Thursday, October 2
Durham, N.C.
7 p.m.
Duke University
vs
Pitt
Photo by: Duke Athletics
No. 14 Duke Continues Homestand Thursday by Hosting Pitt
10/1/2025 2:55:00 PM | Women's Soccer
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Match 11
Pittsburgh (5-5-2, 1-3-0 ACC) at #14 Duke (6-3-1, 1-3-0 ACC)
Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025 - 7 PM (ET) - ACC Network Extra
Durham, N.C. (Koskinen Stadium)
ACC Network Extra Talent: Dean Linke (PXP), Matt Stradley (Color)
NEED TO KNOW
STORYLINES/OTHER BLUE DEVIL NOTES
THE SERIES WITH PITT
SCOUTING PITT
HEY, I KNOW YOU!
A WIN WOULD...
RADER HAVING IMPRESSIVE SEASON
LOVE BEING AT KOSKI
OLIARO AGAINST THE DEACS
BLUE DEVILS LOOK TO SNAP SKID
TOP SCORING DUOS IN ACC
TOP SCORING TANDEMS IN ACC
18 - Notre Dame (Izzy Engle 11, Annabelle Chukwu 7)
16 - Stanford (Jasmine Aikey 9, Andrea Kitahata 7)
14 - Duke (Kat Rader 7, Mia Minestrella 7)
14 - North Carolina (Olivia Thomas 9, Kate Faasse 5)
13 - Louisville (Amelia Swinarski 7, Mackenzie Geigle 6)
MINESTRELLA IN RECORD BOOKS
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
VARIOUS BLUE DEVIL TIDBITS
Match 11
Pittsburgh (5-5-2, 1-3-0 ACC) at #14 Duke (6-3-1, 1-3-0 ACC)
Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025 - 7 PM (ET) - ACC Network Extra
Durham, N.C. (Koskinen Stadium)
ACC Network Extra Talent: Dean Linke (PXP), Matt Stradley (Color)
NEED TO KNOW
- Duke (6-3-1, 1-3-0 ACC) continues its three-match homestand Thursday, Oct. 2 as the 14th-ranked Blue Devils host Pittsburgh (5-5-2, 1-3-0) at 7 p.m., inside Koskinen Stadium.
- Thursday's match will be aired live on ACC Network Extra with Dean Linke (PXP) and Matt Stradley (Color) calling the action.
- Duke will feature three straight home contests against WFU (Sept. 25), Pitt (Oct. 2) and North Carolina (Oct. 12). Of the six remaining games, four of them are at home.
- Duke has won 16 out of its last 19 home contests
- The Blue Devils recently played five games over a span of 14 days, but now will play only three matches over 20 days. Duke plays only one match this week for the second week in a row.
- First year head coach Kieran Hall has kicked off his career with the Blue Devils with a 6-3-1 ledger.
STORYLINES/OTHER BLUE DEVIL NOTES
- The Blue Devils are currently No. 11 in the latest NCAA RPI with Duke's three losses coming against No. 1 (Virginia), No. 3 (Notre Dame) and No. 7 (Wake Forest).
- Blue Devil freshman Avery Oder (4 goals) and Pitt freshman Katie Ellermeyer (6 goals) are two of the top rookie scorers nationally.
- Kat Rader enters the match with goals in back-to-back contests and has scored or assisted in nine of the 10 matches on the year.
- Mia Minestrella and Kelly Walbert (1994-95) are the only Duke players in program history to score in three or more straight ACC games in back-to-back seasons. Walbert is a Duke Hall of Fame selection. These came 30 seasons apart.
- Duke is averaging 3.2 goals and 23.5 shots a game in six home contests in 2025.
- Cameron Roller has notched assists in back-to-back contests against Miami and Notre Dame.
- The Blue Devils rank second nationally and first in the ACC with 8.60 corner kicks per game.
- Mia Minestrella registered her seventh career goal against an ACC opponent at Notre Dame. She owns three goals in four ACC matches in 2025.
- Kat Rader ranks second in the ACC in points per game (2.10), second in assists per game (.700), third in assists (7) and tied for 11th in game-winning goals (2). She is tied for seventh nationally in points per game (2.10) and tied for 10th in assists (7).
THE SERIES WITH PITT
- Duke and Pitt will meet for the ninth time in program history when the Panthers come to town on Thursday.
- The Blue Devils are 7-1-0 all-time against Pitt, including a 5-0-0 record in matches played in Durham.
- The Blue Devils hold a 23-6 goal advantage over the Panthers all-time and a 17-4 advantage in home games. The last time Duke allowed a goal to Pitt in Durham was October 22, 2015.
- The teams last faced each other on October 5, 2023, when the Blue Devils lost 1-2 on the road. Kat Rader recorded a penalty kick goal during the match.
SCOUTING PITT
- The Panthers enter the match with a 5-5-2 record after their 0-4 loss at home against SMU last Thursday. The team is 1-3-0 in ACC play.
- Pitt is 3-0-0 in road games this season. The Panthers own a 8-2 goal advantage in matches away from home.
- Freshman midfielder Katie Ellermeyer leads Pitt in scoring with six goals on the season, the most of any freshman in the ACC. Ellermeyer owns three game-winning goals on the season as well.
- After starting the season 4-0-0, the Panthers are 1-4-2 across their last seven matches. Opponents have outscored Pitt 18-5 during this stretch.
- Pitt is in its first season under head coach Ben Waldrum, the son of former head coach Randy Waldrum. The Panthers are coming off a 9-6-3 season in 2024 that saw them go 3-5-2 in ACC play.
HEY, I KNOW YOU!
- Duke sophomore goalkeeper Caroline Dysart and Pitt freshman Katie Ellermeyer played together for club soccer with San Diego Surf.
A WIN WOULD...
- Snap a two-match losing streak
- Be the 17th win at home over the last 20 contests
- Improve Duke to 7-3-1 overall and 2-3-0 in the ACC
RADER HAVING IMPRESSIVE SEASON
- Redshirt junior Kat Rader is quietly having a very impressive season with seven goals, seven assists and 21 points.
- She has totaled at least a goal or assist in nine of the 10 matches with the lone exception being at Miami.
- Rader owns two multi-goal performances and has notched goals in back-to-back contests against Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
LOVE BEING AT KOSKI
- Over her three seasons at Duke, Kat Rader has enjoyed playing at home inside Koskinen Stadium as the redshirt junior has totaled 13 goals, five assists and 31 points in 17 matches.
OLIARO AGAINST THE DEACS
- Junior Mia Oliaro has had a day against Wake Forest over the last two seasons with two goals and two assists.
- Last year, Oliaro registered a brace en route to leading Duke to a 2-0 victory on the road at WFU to secure the ACC regular season title for the Blue Devils.
- In the last game, Oliaro came off the bench to post two assists in the 3-2 loss to the Deacs.
- Oliaro owns five assists in 10 matches on the season with a pair of assists versus WFU and Northwestern.
- Over the last two years, Oliaro has collected two assists on four different occasions.
BLUE DEVILS LOOK TO SNAP SKID
- Duke has dropped two matches in a row and on Thursday will look to avoid a three-match losing skid for the first time since 2002.
- The Blue Devils have allowed three goals in back-to-back matches for the first time since the 2014 campaign.
TOP SCORING DUOS IN ACC
- Duke's tandem of Kat Rader and Mia Minestrella ranks as the tied for third-highest scoring duos in the ACC.
- The Blue Devils have combined for 14 goals.
TOP SCORING TANDEMS IN ACC
18 - Notre Dame (Izzy Engle 11, Annabelle Chukwu 7)
16 - Stanford (Jasmine Aikey 9, Andrea Kitahata 7)
14 - Duke (Kat Rader 7, Mia Minestrella 7)
14 - North Carolina (Olivia Thomas 9, Kate Faasse 5)
13 - Louisville (Amelia Swinarski 7, Mackenzie Geigle 6)
MINESTRELLA IN RECORD BOOKS
- Junior Mia Minestrella etched her name once again in the Duke record books as she became the first Blue Devil to score goals in the first three ACC contests to open a season.
- She registered goals against Virginia, Miami and Notre Dame - all on the road.
- Minestrella has seven goals to go along with three assists for 17 points. Her 36 shots, 17 shots on goal and three game-winning goals leads the Blue Devils as well.
- She ranks 30th nationally in goals (7), 33rd in points (17) and 25th in goals per game (0.70).
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
- The Blue Devils boast a 76-15-11 record at Koskinen Stadium since the start of the 2017 campaign.
- In 2025, Duke has scored 10 of its 19 goals at Koskinen Stadium in the first half.
- Prior to the Wake Forest match, the Blue Devils had allowed only seven first half shots and 24 total in five matches. Against the Demon Deacons, Duke allowed four shots and one goal in the opening 45 minutes.
- The Blue Devils are allowing only 5.3 shots per game against opponents at home in six matches in 2025.
- Duke has outscored its opponents 71-11 at home over the last two seasons. The Blue Devils totaled a program-record 50 goals at home last season, passing the previous mark of 40 from 2017.
- So far in 2025, Duke has outscored opponents 19-6 at home with Kat Rader (6), Avery Oder (4), Mia Minestrella (3) and Farrah Walters (2) leading the way.
- Minestrella scored 10 of her 12 goals last season at Koskinen, while Mia Oliaro posted six and Devin Lynch totaled five on the year.
VARIOUS BLUE DEVIL TIDBITS
- Senior Julia Saunicheva notched her first goal of the 2025 campaign and second of her collegiate career versus Wake Forest in the last match.
- Freshman Lauren Martinho started for the second time this season as she got the call against 18th-ranked Wake Forest.
- Duke owns two wins against a pair of top-11 ranked opponents -- No. 11 Penn State and No. 8 Arkansas.
- Junior Madison Foxhoven made her first collegiate start against VMI and played a career-high 57 minutes.
- Mia Minestrella has scored 13 of her 19 career goals at home inside Koskinen Stadium.
- Carina Lageyre and Kat Rader have started 46 consecutive matches in a Blue Devil uniform.
- Cameron Roller has started 40 matches in a row.
- Of Duke's 25 student-athletes on the 2025 roster, a total of 11 of those are from the state of California.
- Kat Rader now owns 11 career game-winning goals, which ranks tied for fifth on Duke's all-time charts.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's SoccerKieran Hall Postgame vs Pitt
Thursday, October 02
Mia Oliaro Postgame vs Pitt
Thursday, October 02
Kieran Hall Postgame Vs. Wake Forest
Thursday, September 25
Kieran Hall Postgame Vs. Notre Dame
Friday, September 19
