No. 2 Duke Travels to Face No. 5 Virginia Thursday in ACC Opener

Thursday, September 11

Charlottesville, VA

7 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 2 Duke Travels to Face No. 5 Virginia Thursday in ACC Opener

9/10/2025 11:09:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Live Stats l Watch on ACC Network Extra l Twitter l 2025 Media Guide l Media Hub l Match Notes

Match 7
#2 Duke (5-0-1) at #5 Virginia (5-0-1)
Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025 - 7 PM (ET) - ACC Network Extra
Charlottesville, Va. (Klockner Stadium)
ACC Network Extra Talent: Jack Larmoyeux (PXP), Paddy Foss (Color)

NEED TO KNOW

In a battle of two top-5 ranked teams, second-ranked Duke travels to Charlottesville, Va., to face fifth-ranked Virginia (5-0-1) Thursday, Sept. 11 in the ACC opener for both squads. The contest will start at 7 p.m.
Thursday's match will be aired live on ACC Network Extra with Jack Larmoyeux (PXP) and Paddy Foss (Color) calling the action.
Duke will open a stretch where the Blue Devils play their first three ACC contests on the road and then play the next three matches at home.
Of Duke's five victories, two have come against ranked opponents -- No. 11 Penn State and No. 8 Arkansas.
All of the Blue Devils' matches will be aired on either ACC Network, ESPNU or ACC Network Extra.
First year head coach Kieran Hall has kicked off his career with the Blue Devils with a 5-0-1 ledger.
Duke scored a goal in the first half in 19 out of 22 matches in 2024, including nine out of the final 10 contests. Dating back to last season, the Blue Devils have scored a goal in the first half in 13 out of the last 16 matches.

STORYLINES/OTHER BLUE DEVIL NOTES

The Blue Devils and Cavaliers will meet for the 50th time in program history.
Duke opened the season with a 5-0 ledger for the first time since 2021.
Kat Rader and Carina Lageyre are expected to make their 50th career start at Virginia.
Mia Oliaro is only five minutes away from reaching 2,500 for her career.
Avery Oder's four goals on the year ranks tied for first among all ACC freshmen along with Katie Ellemeyer of Pitt, Hannah Pachan of Virginia Tech and Juju Harris of Clemson. Oder has accomplished this in only six matches.
After scoring nine goals over the first four matches to open 2025, Duke registered nine goals against VMI, which tied a school record.
Kat Rader ranks first in the ACC in points per game (2.67), second in assists per game (1.0) and tied for fourth in game-winning goals (2). She is tied for third nationally in points per game (2.67). Caroline Dysart ranks second in goals-against average (.211) and tied for third in save percentage (.889). In the NCAA stats, Dysart ranks 11th (.211).
Mia Oliaro has scored a goal or registered an assist in 14 of the past 21 matches. In 48 contests in college, when she nets a point in a game her team is undefeated (17-0-1).
Cameron Roller and Mia Oliaro were two members of the Hermann Trophy Preseason Watch List.
Duke's seven-member recruiting class was tabbed No. 3 nationally (was No. 1 at one point) heading into the 2025 campaign -- Avery Oder (No. 6 recruit), Jocelyn Travers (No. 16 recruit), Molly Vapensky (No. 22 recruit), Lexi Coughlin (No. 28 recruit), Daya King (No. 35 recruit), Kaylee Kim (No. 82 recruit) and Kosette Koons-Perdikis.
Following the 2024 campaign, five Duke players signed professional contracts in the NWSL -- Hannah Bebar (Bay FC), Leah Freeman (Bay FC), Maggie Graham (Houston Dash), Ella Hase (Racing Louisville FC) and Mary Long (Kansas City Current).

THE SERIES WITH VIRGINIA

Duke and Virginia will meet for the 50th time in program history when the Blue Devils travel to Charlottesville, Va., Thursday.
Duke is 18-21-10 all-time against the Cavaliers, including a 7-11-5 record in Charlottesville. Duke is 2-0-1 in the last three meetings.
Duke and Virginia last faced each other on October 3, 2024, when the Blue Devils topped the 25th-ranked Cavaliers 3-1 in Durham. Farrah Walters, Devin Lynch and Mia Oliaro recorded goals in the match.
In three career matches against Virginia, Kat Rader owns one goal and two assists.

SCOUTING VIRGINIA

The fifth-ranked Cavaliers enter the match with a 5-0-1 record after defeating No. 9 Penn State at home last Thursday, 1-0. Senior forward Maggie Cagle, a three-time All-ACC selection, became the fifth different Virginia player to record a game-winning goal this season when she scored in the second minute.
Fifth-year midfielder Lia Godfrey leads Virginia in scoring with three goals and two assists. Godfrey is a three-time All-America selection.
Virginia is in its 36th season under head coach Steve Swanson. The team is coming off a 13-5-1 season in 2024 that ended in the NCAA Tournament second round.

A WIN WOULD...

Improve Kieran Hall to 6-0-1 as the head coach at Duke.
Be the sixth win in a row in an ACC opener, which all wins have been on the road.
Give Duke a 3-0-1 ledger against Virginia over the last four meetings.

ACC OPENERS

Duke will open ACC action on the road for the sixth straight year, while riding a five-match winning streak.
The Blue Devils are on a 12-match unbeaten streak in ACC openers with a 9-0-3 record.
Duke's last loss in an ACC opener was in 2012 at Florida State (0-1).

HEY, I KNOW YOU!

Duke freshman Kaylee Kim attended Carlmont H.S., along with Virginia's Kathryn Kelly. They played one year of high school soccer together.
Kim and Kelly, along with Duke's Julia Saunicheva and Elle Piper played club soccer together with the San Francisco Glens.
Wicki Dunlap of Virginia played for NC Courage Academy along with Duke's Phoebe Goldthwaite, Lauren Martinho and Mia Oliaro.
Duke's Kaeden Koons-Perdikis went to Georgetown Visitation with Kira Waller, a redshirt freshman on the Virginia team. They played high school soccer there together and won two ISL championships.
Blue Devil freshman Kosette Koons-Perdikis played club soccer at Virginia Union FC with Virgina's Carrie Helfrich, Marin McCormack and Loretta Talbott. Koons-Perdikis and Virginia's Addison Halperon played in the High School All-America game together.

U.S. TEAMMATES FACE EACH OTHER

Duke's Carina Lageyre will face her former U.S. teammate Laney Rouse of Virginia. They represented the U.S. at the 2022 FIFA Women's World Cup in Costa Rica.

WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR?

Duke collected a 3-1 victory against Virginia a season ago in Durham as Farrah Walters, Mia Oliaro and Devin Lynch each tallied goals.
The Blue Devils jumped out to a 3-0 lead and the Cavaliers added a goal in the 80th minute.

RECORD-SETTING WIN AGAINST VMI

Duke rewrote the record book with a 9-0 victory over VMI.
The nine goals matched a school record, which also happened in 1991 (Monmouth), 2004 (Virginia Tech), 2008 (Coastal Carolina), 2010 (Francis Marion) and Wofford (2016).
The 29 points and 11 assists were one shy of a school record.
Kat Rader totaled seven points, which ranks tied for second on Duke's single-game record charts. Her hat trick marked just the ninth time a Blue Devil has scored three or more goals in a contest.

VARIOUS BLUE DEVIL TIDBITS

Duke owns two wins against a pair of top-11 ranked opponents -- No. 11 Penn State and No. 8 Arkansas.
Junior Madison Foxhoven made her first collegiate start against VMI and played a career-high 57 minutes.
Mia Minestrella has scored 13 of her 16 career goals at home inside Koskinen Stadium.
Carina Lageyre and Kat Rader have started 42 consecutive matches in a Blue Devil uniform.
Cameron Roller has started 36 matches in a row.
Of Duke's 25 student-athletes on the 2025 roster, a total of 11 of those are from the state of California.
Kat Rader now owns 11 career game-winning goals, which ranks tied for fifth on Duke's all-time charts.

A NIGHT OF FIRSTS

In the VMI match, four different Blue Devils totaled their first goals of the season -- Jocelyn Travers, Sophia Recupero, Farrah Walters and Taylor Evans.
Evans' goal was the first of her career. In fact, Evans made her first appearance since Oct. 22, 2023 as she missed last year.
Sophomore Sophia Recupero posted a career-high two assists as she played a career-best 72 minutes.

DUKE DEFENSE PLAYING BIG

Duke's defensive unit, headlined by Hermann Trophy candidate Cameron Roller has been stellar this season.
After allowing two goals in the first half against No. 11 Penn State, the Blue Devils then went on a streak of 522:47 without allowing a goal for five matches. That streak was the fourth-longest in Duke history dating back to 2002.
Along with Roller on the defensive unit, freshmen Lexi Coughlin and Daya King have been impressive starting five and four matches, respectively. Duke's Mia Oliaro and Elle Piper have also been huge, while the rest of the Blue Devil squad has defended excellent.
Caroline Dysart did not allow a goal with the Blue Devils until late against Alabama. She had a school-record streak of 510:19 to open her collegiate career.
Duke is allowing only 6.0 shots a contest and allowed only 11 shots on goal this season.

DUKE TRIO LEADING IN SCORING

Duke's Mia Minestrella (4 goals, 3 assists), Kat Rader (5 goals, 6 assists) and Avery Oder (4 goals, 1 assist) have combined to score 13 of Duke's 19 goals on the year.
After Rader's hat trick and seven points against VMI, she now leads the squad with 16 points.
With her two game-winning goals against Penn State and Arkansas, Minestrella is tied with Rader with two game-winners.
Minestrella tallied two goals and an assist in the opener against Penn State and then notched an assist against Northwestern.
Oder has tallied goals against Penn State, Northwestern, Creighton and VMI. Her four goals are tied for first in the ACC among rookies along with Katie Ellemeyer of Pitt.
Duke featured a multiple goal scorer in each of the first two matches for only the fourth time in program history -- 2024, 2015, 2008 and 1997.

YOUNG BLUE DEVILS

Duke features two Blue Devils under the age of 18 years old -- Daya King (17 years, 11 months), Jocelyn Travers (17 years, 10 months).
Looking nationally, only Alabama (Maddie Padelski, Presley Williams), Duke, Georgia (Ava Stack, Hannah Folliard) and TCU (Yasmine Decombe, Kamdyn Fuller) have multiple players on the roster who are under the age of 18.

DYSART NETS DUKE RECORD

Sophomore Caroline Dysart has been impressive in goal since joining the Blue Devils.
She didn't allow a goal for her first 510:19 as a Blue Devil, which was a new Duke record. The previous longest streak to open a Duke career was Meghan Thomas from 2011-13 (250:39).
Dysart made her first collegiate start against Northwestern and registered a shutout and victory in the outing. Dysart made an impressive save in the second half to keep the Wildcats off the board.
On the road at eighth-ranked Arkansas, she had a career-high five saves and notched her second shutout in as many contests.
She totaled another shutout against Creighton as Duke limited the Bluejays to only two shots.
In 425:44 minutes played on the season, Dysart has allowed only one goal and had eight saves.

IMPRESSIVE FRESHMAN

Avery Oder has turned in an impressive start to her rookie Blue Devil career with goals in her opening two matches and four out of the first six contests.
She became the 19th Blue Devil freshman to score a goal in her first collegiate start and the first since Michelle Cooper in 2021.
Oder is one of only eight Duke players to notch goals in their first two collegiate starts.
She opened her Duke career with a bang against Penn State by registering a goal 3:20 into play.
Oder's goal at the 3:20 mark of the first half was the fifth-quickest goal to open a season in Blue Devil history. It was the second-quickest tally by a Duke freshman in program history.
Oder was the No. 6 overall recruit in the 2025 class.