No. 3 Duke Registers 2-0 Win on the Road at No. 8 Arkansas

Thursday, August 28

Fayetteville, AR

7 p.m.

Duke University

3-0-0, 0-0-0

Arkansas

1-2-1, 0-0-0

Duke

Arkansas

Photo by: Peter Raider, Duke Athletics

No. 3 Duke Registers 2-0 Win on the Road at No. 8 Arkansas

8/28/2025 11:04:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Kieran Hall Interview Devin Lynch Interview

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. –The third-ranked Duke women's soccer team went on the road Thursday evening and registered a 2-0 victory against eighth-ranked Arkansas in front of 2,652 fans at Razorback Field in Fayetteville.

The Blue Devils registered a goal in the first nine minutes as junior Mia Minestrella finished her third goal of the season off an assist from senior Devin Lynch. Lynch then put the match away in the 83rd minute with a rocket from 21 yards. Duke improved to 3-0 on the season, while Arkansas dropped to 1-2-1.

Duke joins Tennessee as the only teams nationally with two top-11 victories on the year.

How It Happened

The Blue Devils opened the match with the first shot attempt as redshirt junior Elle Piper drove into the left side of the box and fired a shot that went just over the crossbar at the 2:35 mark.
Duke jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 8:43 mark as senior Devin Lynch took the ball on Arkansas side of the pitch and drove up towards midfield.Lynch placed a perfect ball to a streaking junior Mia Minestrella along the right side. Minestrella, who hails from Redondo Beach, Calif., beat her defender as she drove into the box and had a one-v-one scoring chance with Razorback goalkeeper Keegan Smith. For the third time this season, Minestrella finished inside the back of the net.
In the 21st through 23rd minutes, the Blue Devils had four different scoring chances, but couldn't connect.
Duke held a 14-3 shot advantage in the first half with Mia Oliaro leading the way with four, while Kat Rader and Avery Oder added three each.
After having only three shots in the first half, Arkansas came out and pressured the Blue Devil defense taking five out of the first eight shots in the second half.
With 12 minutes remaining, Duke had its best scoring chance of the second half as Oder fired a left-footed attempt at the keeper, which was batted up in the air and senior Farrah Walters' header went over the crossbar.
Less than two minutes later, Rader barely missed an attempt that went left of the post and then senior Carina Lageyre had a shot that went wide.
Duke was finally able to put the match away at the 82:51 mark as Lynch finished a 21-yard blast from the middle of the pitch, with assists from Rader and Lageyre.
The Blue Devils finished the match with a 27-12 shot advantage.

Notes

Duke scored in the first half for the third match in a row to open the season.Dating back to last year, the Blue Devils have scored in the first half in 22 out of the last 25 contests.
The Blue Devils have scored twice this season in the first 10 minutes of the match (Arkansas, Penn State).
Eight different Blue Devils attempted two or more shots on the night with Oliaro and Rader each leading Duke with five.
Mia Minestrella totaled her fourth career game-winning goal and 15th career goal, including her third of the 2025 campaign.
Devin Lynch's three points on the night tied a career high.
Lynch posted her eighth career goal and 17th assist.
Kat Rader registered her third assist on the season, while Carina Lageyre notched her 11th career assist.
Sophomore Caroline Dysart registered her second shutout in as many matches, while totaling a career-high five saves.

Quotes

"What a game.I think it was what we thought it would be, at least the second half.Arkansas is a fantastic program and they do what they do better than anybody.They put us in a lot of pressure in the second half.It was a great win and I think the performance we had was really good, really positive – really frustrated that it was still a game at halftime.We had so many opportunities and we could have finished the game.When you face a team like Arkansas, especially at Arkansas, you don't want to give them second chances and we did.That is why the second half was really tight and was a difficult half." – Duke head coach Kieran Hall

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