Blue Devils Fall on the Road at No. 22 FSU, 2-1

Thursday, October 29

Tallahassee, FL

8 p.m.

Duke University

Florida State

Photo by: Peter Raider, Duke Athletics

10/29/2026 11:39:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score (PDF)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Duke women's soccer senior Mia Minestrella scored her 46th career goal, but the fifth-ranked Blue Devils couldn't overcome an early deficit Thursday at 22nd-ranked Florida State, falling 2-1.

Minestrella is now one goal away from tying the Duke career goals record held by Kelly Walbert (47). With the loss, the Blue Devils dropped to 9-2-4 overall and 4-2-3 in the ACC, while Florida State improved to 8-2-3, 4-1-2.

How It Happened

Duke created a scoring opportunity at the 8:42 mark of the first half as senior Phoebe Goldthwaite sent a pass to sophomore Avery Oder on the left side of the box. Oder crossed into the box, where senior Mia Minestrella's header was saved.
The shot led to a corner kick, but Florida State capitalized on a counterattack following the corner to take a 1-0 lead as Shaneil Buckly outran the Duke defense and scored on a one-on-one opportunity against Blue Devil goalkeeper Molly Vapensky in the 10th minute.
Florida State extended its lead to 2-0 at the 12:47 mark as Tanner Strickland finished a corner kick from Sam Erbach.
In the 20th minute, sophomore Jocelyn Travers found Minestrella in the box. Minestrella turned and fired a left-footed attempt that FSU goalkeeper Kate Ockene saved with a diving stop to her right.
Duke pulled a goal back at the 31-minute mark as Goldthwaite sent a long pass to the top of the box, where Minestrella, an FSU defender and Ockene converged on the ball. Ockene tried to kick the ball away, but it deflected off Minestrella's leg. A product of Redondo Beach, California, Minestrella turned and sent the ball into the back of the empty net to cut the deficit to 2-1.
With the goal, Minestrella scored against Florida State for the first time in two career meetings. She has now scored against an ACC-best 14 different ACC programs. Minestrella has scored in 12 of her last 14 road matches.
Senior Mia Oliaro connected with freshman Rylee McLanahan in the box, but McLanahan's attempt was blocked in the 43rd minute.
Duke held a 7-4 shot advantage in the first half, led by Minestrella's three attempts.
Blue Devil rookie Yuna Marui attempted two shots in the first 2:06 of the second half that were saved and blocked, respectively.
Vapensky recorded her first save of the night in the 50th minute on a shot from FSU's Ryder Ajeto.
At the 51:26 mark, Travers took the ball into the box and created space before firing a right-footed attempt that hit the crossbar.
Duke attempted only one shot over the final 38 minutes of action.
The Blue Devils finished the match with an 11-8 advantage in shots. Minestrella was held without a shot in the second half.

Notes

Mia Minestrella increased her career goals total to 46, one shy of Kelly Walbert's Duke record of 47. She now owns 108 career points and is nine shy of Walbert's Blue Devil record of 117.
Minestrella now has 13 goals in her last 27 matches against ranked opponents.
Phoebe Goldthwaite registered her fifth assist of the season.
Duke trailed at halftime for only the second time this season, following its match against California.
The two first-half goals allowed against Florida State matched Duke's total from its first 14 matches combined.
Lauren Martinho and Katie Shea Collins missed the contest due to injury.