No. 2 Seed Duke Hosts No. 7 Seed UCF in NCAA Second Round Thursday

Thursday, November 20

Durham, N.C.

6:30 p.m.

Duke University

UCF

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Photo by: Dan Loughlin

No. 2 Seed Duke Hosts No. 7 Seed UCF in NCAA Second Round Thursday

11/19/2025 12:04:00 PM | Women's Soccer

NCAA Second & Third Round Information

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Match 20
No. 7 Seed UCF (12-3-5) at No. 2 Seed Duke (14-4-1)
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 – 6:30 PM (ET) – ESPN+
Durham, N.C. (Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium)
ESPN+ Talent: Dean Linke (PXP), Matt Stradley (Color)

No. 6 Seed Louisville (13-4-3) vs. No. 3 Seed Kansas (15-5-3)
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 – 4 PM (ET) – ESPN+
Durham, N.C. (Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium)
ESPN+ Talent: Dean Linke (PXP), Matt Stradley (Color)
Live Stats

NEED TO KNOW

Second-seeded and 11th-ranked Duke women's soccer (14-4-1) will host seventh-seeded UCF (12-3-5) Thursday, Nov. 20 in the NCAA Tournament second round at 6:30 p.m., on Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium.
Thursday's match will be aired live on ESPN+ with Dean Linke (PBP) and Matt Stradley (Color) calling the action.
Duke is making its 30th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and enters as a top-16 national seed for the ninth time out of the last 10 seasons.
Duke features a 53-25-11 overall record in 30 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
After netting a hat trick in the first round, Mia Minestrella was named TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Week.
Duke is hosting a second round match between No. 3 seed Kansas and No. 6 seed Louisville Thursday at 4 p.m. The Kansas/Louisville winner will then face the Duke/UCF winner Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m., in the round of 16.
Duke's duo of Kat Rader and Mia Minestrella were named to the Hermann Trophy Midseason Watch List. They were two of 35 players selected for the prestigious award.
First year head coach Kieran Hall has kicked off his career with the Blue Devils with a 14-4-1 ledger.

STORYLINES/OTHER BLUE DEVIL NOTES

Cameron Roller is expected to start in her 50th consecutive match Thursday.
In NCAA second round matches, Duke is 15-6-2 all-time and has won 11 out of the last 12. Duke is 8-0 at home.
Kat Rader is the fourth Blue Devil in program history to notch 10 or more goals and assists in a season -- Michelle Cooper (2022), Imani Dorsey (2017) and Laura Weinberg (2012).
In NCAA Tournament matches being played in Durham, N.C., the Blue Devils boast a 33-3-1 record. Duke has won 14 straight opening NCAA matches played in Durham, N.C.
Duke has won 22 out of its last 25 home contests.
The Blue Devils feature a 10-1-1 ledger at home this season with Kat Rader and Mia Minestrella scoring 17 of Duke's 36 goals.
Sophomore goalkeeper Caroline Dysart ranks tied for third in the ACC with eight shutouts. Mia Oliaro ranks tied for second in assists (11).
Kat Rader has moved into eight and 10th, respectively in Duke career goals (30) and points (78).
The Blue Devils have scored a goal in the first half in six matches in a row and in a total of 13 contests this season.
Duke ranks second nationally in assists with a 3.58 per game average, fifth in corner kicks per match (7.58) and fifth in points per game (8.74).
Over the last six matches, freshman Jocelyn Travers has averaged 77 minutes a contest, has started five of those matches and registered two assists.
Kat Rader has scored or assisted in 14 of the 18 matches played this year.

THE SERIES WITH UCF

Duke and UCF will meet for the 10th time in program history when the Knights come to town on Thursday for the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Duke is 7-2-0 all-time against UCF and 1-1-0 at home. The Blue Devils hold a 24-9 goal advantage over the Knights across all matches.
The teams last faced each other on August 21, 2016, when Duke won 3-1 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Former Blue Devils Imani Dorsey, Ella Stevens and Toni Payne recorded goals in the match.
This will be the first time the Blue Devils have faced UCF in the NCAA Tournament.

SCOUTING UCF

The seventh-seeded Knights enter the match with a 12-3-5 record after defeating Maine 2-0 at home in the first round on Friday. UCF is now 20-22 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
The Knights rode a nine-game unbeaten streak at the end of their regular season to finish sixth in the Big 12 with a 5-1-5 record. UCF fell to No. 11 Colorado in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.
UCF is 5-1-3 in road matches this season and 2-0-1 against ranked opponents. The Knights have outscored opponents 11-6 on the road.
The Knights are led in scoring by senior forwards Rajanah Reed (eight goals) and Liz Worden (seven goals). Worden, a First Team All-Big 12 selection, leads the team in assists with 10.
UCF is in its 13th season under head coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak. The team is coming off a 3-6-6 season in 2024. This is UCF's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2022, when the Knights lost in the Round of 32 to eventual champion UCLA.

DUKE VERSUS THE BIG 12

Duke holds a record of 22-8-1 against Big 12 schools. The Blue Devils last faced a Big 12 team in last year's NCAA second round, a 3-0 home victory over Texas Tech. Mia Oliaro scored a goal in the match, and three current Blue Devils recorded assists (Mia Minestrella, Phoebe Goldthwaite and Sophia Recupero).

HEY, I KNOW YOU!

Both Carina Lageyre and Kat Rader played with UCF's Haylee Mersereau and Sami Lipcon in club at Florida United. Rader also played with Jess McCullen and Audrey Buck as well.
Duke associate head coach Carla Overbeck and UCF head coach Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak played U.S. Soccer together from 1994-2000 and were both members of the 1999 U.S. squad that won gold at the World Cup. They also played together at the Carolina Courage from 2001-03. Overbeck and Roberts helped lead the WUSA's Carolina Courage to the 2002 WUSA title.

A WIN WOULD...

Improve Duke to 15-3-1 overall and send Duke into the NCAA Tournament round of 16. The Blue Devils would host either Kansas or Louisville Sunday, Nov. 23.
Will give the Blue Devils 15 wins for only the 13th time in program history.
Be the 23rd win at home over the last 26 contests.
Move Duke to 11-1-1 at home this season. The 11 wins at home would rank tied for fifth-most in program history.

IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

The Blue Devils are competing in their 30th all-time NCAA Championship and hold a 53-25-11 overall record in 89 tournament matches.
Duke has competed in the NCAA College Cup five times -- 1992, 2011, 2015, 2017 and 2024. The Blue Devils feature a 3-4-1 ledger in the College Cup.
Duke has advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship 10 times over the past 14 seasons (since 2011).
The Blue Devils have advanced to the quarterfinals in four out of the last five seasons.
Duke has hosted 36 matches at home in NCAA Tournament play and allowed only 17 goals. Since 2017, the Blue Devils have allowed only four goals in 18 home NCAA Tournament contests.
The Blue Devils have not allowed a goal at home over the last 451:20 minutes dating back the last six contests.

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 15 goals, seven assists and 37 points in 22 matches.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE

The Blue Devils boast an 82-15-11 record at Koskinen Stadium since the start of the 2017 campaign.
In the first half, the Blue Devils have allowed only 33 shots and four goals at home in 2025.
The Blue Devils are allowing only 7.1 shots per game against opponents at home in 12 matches in 2025.
Duke has outscored its opponents 88-15 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 36-10 at home with Mia Minestrella (9), Kat Rader (8), Avery Oder (5), Devin Lynch (3), Carina Lageyre (2), Mia Oliaro (2) and Farrah Walters (2) leading the way.
Mia Oliaro has collected 10 assists in 12 home matches in 2025.

DUKE VERSUS THE FIELD

Duke features a 7-4-1 record against the NCAA field in 2025 -- Elon (1-0), North Carolina (1-0), Virginia (0-1), Wake Forest (0-1), Notre Dame (0-2), Clemson (1-0), Louisville (1-0), Northwestern (1-0), Alabama (0-0-1), Arkansas (1-0) and Penn State (1-0).
Of the six Duke non-conference opponents, four of them made the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

FRESHMEN MINUTES PLAYED

Duke rookie Daya King has logged 1,556 minutes played on the season, which ranks as the fourth-most in the ACC among freshmen. Her 86.4 minutes per game also ranks fourth.
North Carolina's Bella Devey (1,659), Syracuse's Bree Bridges (1,581), Virginia Tech's Ellie Robertson (1,562), King (1,556) and Clemson's Neely Kerr (1,553) rank in the top five in the league in minutes played by freshmen.