Blue Devils Score Early, Defeat FIU, 4-0, in Home Opener

Thursday, August 20

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

2-0-1, 0-0-0

FIU

0-2-1, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
FIU	0	0	0
Duke	4	0	4

Women's Soccer Celebrates a goal against FIU

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Score Early, Defeat FIU, 4-0, in Home Opener

8/20/2026 9:41:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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DURHAM, N.C. – The second-ranked Duke women's soccer team scored four first-half goals Thursday en route to a 4-0 victory over FIU in the Blue Devils' home opener at Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium.

The Blue Devils received a pair of goals from Mia Minestrella, along with one each from Katie Shea Collins and Avery Oder to improve to 2-0-1 overall on the season. Duke collected its first shutout of the year as sophomore Molly Vapensky and junior Caroline Dysart combined for the clean sheet in goal. FIU dropped to 0-2-1 on the year.

How It Happened

Duke jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 7:28 mark of the first half as senior Phoebe Goldthwaite sent a pass along the left side of the pitch to junior Katie Shea Collins. A product of Gallatin, Tennessee, Collins drove into the box and finished inside the right post for her 25th career goal and second as a Blue Devil.
Just two minutes later, Duke went ahead, 2-0, as senior Cameron Roller sent a perfect pass into the box where senior Mia Minestrella used her left foot to toe-poke the ball past Panther goalkeeper Valery Restrepo at 9:28.
The Blue Devils increased their lead to 3-0 in the 29th minute. Minestrella was taken down in the box after a feed from redshirt junior Sam Courtwright. Duke was awarded a penalty kick and Minestrella stepped up to finish her second goal of the night.
After FIU fouled sophomore Avery Oder in the box, Oder finished the penalty kick at the 38:04 mark to give Duke a 4-0 lead.
At the end of the first half, Duke held an 8-0 advantage in shots with Minestrella leading the way with four.
The Blue Devils outshot the Panthers, 12-1, in the second half, but couldn't get anything past the FIU defense.
Sophia Recupero (2), Sofia Nuñez (2) and Kaeden Koons-Perdikis (1) came off the bench to attempt a combined five shots.
Duke outshot FIU, 20-1, for the match with Minestrella (6) and Oder (4) pacing the Blue Devils.

Notes

Mia Minestrella now owns 33 career goals and 80 points over her Duke career. Her 33 goals rank seventh on Duke's all-time charts. Her 80 points are now tied for ninth on the Blue Devil career points list along with Imani Dorsey.
Minestrella now owns 24 career goals at home at Koskinen Stadium in 38 matches.
It marks Minestrella's sixth career multi-goal performance of her career -- all have come at home. She now ranks tied for fifth on Duke's career charts with six multi-goal games along with Kim DeCesare.
Duke has scored a goal in the first 7:28 of the first three games of the season. It is the earliest the Blue Devils have scored a goal in the opening three games since 2011. In 2011, Duke scored goals in the first three games within 8:32 of the matches.
Katie Shea Collins collected her second goal as a Blue Devil and 25th of her college career.
Avery Oder tallied her second goal of the 2026 season and eighth of her career.
Phoebe Goldthwaite made her fifth career start and notched her fifth career assist.
Sophomore Jocelyn Travers missed the contest due to serving a suspension after receiving a red card in the last contest.
Caroline Dysart made her 2026 debut in goal, playing the final 20:43 of the match.
Of the eight goals Duke has scored on the season, all have come in the first half.
Duke won its eighth match in a row against a Conference USA opponent.
Kieran Hall is now 14-1-1 all-time in home matches since taking over as head coach.

Quotes

"I am really happy. What we are looking for is more of a performance that was true to our identity. I felt like last Sunday we weren't quite expressing ourselves the way we can. Definitely, that was the mindset going into this game. We put in a performance that was a little bit more of a Duke performance. I felt like the mentality was there, we were pretty relentless with how we attacked and had a lot of shots in the game. I am really proud of the step and the week's response we had going into the game." -- Duke head coach Kieran Hall

Next Match

Duke will next host Rhode Island Sunday, Aug. 23, at 6 p.m. It will be part of a tripleheader along with the Blue Devil men's soccer team. Campbell will face Seton Hall at 12 p.m., and Duke will face California Baptist at 3:30 p.m. All action will be contested at Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium.

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