Five Blue Devils Score as No. 14 Duke Rolls Past Pitt, 5-0

Thursday, October 2

Durham, N.C.

7 p.m.

Duke University

Pitt

Lauren Martinho, Julia Saunicheva, Farrah Walter, Phoebe Goldthwaite

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Five Blue Devils Score as No. 14 Duke Rolls Past Pitt, 5-0

10/2/2025 10:27:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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DURHAM, N.C. – The 14th-ranked Duke women's soccer team scored five goals over the final 48 minutes Thursday en route to a 5-0 clean sheet against Pittsburgh in ACC action inside Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils received goals from five different student-athletes, while junior Mia Oliaro matched a career high with two assists for the second match in a row. Sophomore goalkeeper Caroline Dysart totaled her fifth shutout of the year and her second in ACC play as she finished with three saves. Duke scored three goals over a span of 6:79 in the second half to break open the contest.

Duke improved to 7-3-1 overall and 2-3-0 in ACC play, while the Panthers dropped to 5-6-2, 1-4-0.

How It Happened

Both teams played a very defensive first 15 minutes, before the Blue Devils attempted the first shot of the match off the leg of junior Mia Minestrella, which went wide right.
The Panthers had a couple of scoring chances that went wide and were saved, as the Blue Devils struggled getting a shot off for most of the first half.
Duke broke through at the 42:11 mark as freshman Daya King found fellow rookie Avery Oder at the edge of the left side of the box.Oder sent a perfect cross between a Pitt defender's legs and found a wide-open senior Devin Lynch, who found the back of the net to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.
At the end of the first half, Duke and Pitt were even with four shots each.
The Blue Devils had the first good scoring chance of the second half as in the 60th minute Minestrella had an attempt hit the crossbar and then was cleared.
Duke doubled its lead in the 68th minute as senior Julia Saunicheva drove towards the endline on the right side of the pitch and crossed back to Phoebe Goldthwaite.A product of Durham, Goldthwaite weaved through the Pitt defense and found junior Mia Oliaro in the corner of the box, took one touch and threaded a perfect left-footed shot in the upper 90 of the goal to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Devils featured some picture-perfect passing that led to Duke taking a 3-0 lead at the 70:06 mark.Goldthwaite, junior Cameron Roller and Oliaro found Rader in front of the goal and was able to get her leg out and redirect the ball into the back of the net.
Saunicheva created Duke's fourth goal as she used a great move to fake out a Pitt defender, crossed in a ball that was blocked, but got the rebound and found redshirt freshman Lauren Martinho for her first collegiate goal at the 74:03 mark.
In the final minute of the contest, Oliaro served a beautiful pass up the field and around the Pitt defense to a streaking Minestrella, who finished inside the far post to put the Blue Devils ahead, 5-0.

Notes

With her goal in the first half, senior Devin Lynch tallied her second goal of the season and ninth of her collegiate career.She tied a career high with three points on the night.
Daya King posted her second assist of the season, while Avery Oder totaled her third assist.
Senior Carina Lageyre missed her first match of the season with an injury.
Senior Farrah Walters made her first start of the season and 46th of her collegiate career.
Junior Phoebe Goldthwaite made her first start of the year and fourth of her career.
Duke scored in the first half for the first time since the Virginia contest.
Mia Oliaro registered four points – one goal and two assists – on the night. She matched a career high with two assists for the second match in a row.
Kat Rader scored for the third match in a row giving her 28 career goals and eight on the season. She now owns 71 career points. She has scored or assisted in 10 of the 11 matches this year.
Mia Minestrella notched her eighth goal of the season and 20th of her career. She has scored a goal in four out of the last five matches.
Duke held a 17-8 shot advantage and outshot Pitt, 13-4, in the second half.The Panthers were held without an attempt in the second half.

Quotes

"We have been speaking about this the whole week – the fact that you have to claw your way out of these tough times.The first half was not really flowing, we really weren't at our best, but they just took ownership in the second half.I felt it was a little bit more like who we are, our identity and like what we saw a couple weeks before our rough patch.I am really happy with the performance.The result was great, but the performance was even better." – Duke head coach Kieran Hall

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