Minestrella’s Hat Leads No. 2 Duke Past Rhode Island, 6-1

Sunday, August 23

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

3-0-1, 0-0-0

Rhode Island

1-2-1, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Rhode Island	0	1	1
Duke	3	3	6

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Minestrella’s Hat Leads No. 2 Duke Past Rhode Island, 6-1

8/23/2026 9:41:00 PM | Women's Soccer

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DURHAM, N.C. – The second-ranked Duke women's soccer team erupted for a season-high six goals, including a hat trick from senior Mia Minestrella, as the Blue Devils defeated Rhode Island, 6-1, Sunday evening at Freeman Field at Koskinen Stadium.

Duke's Minestrella collected her second consecutive multi-goal performance, her seventh career multi-goal contest and her third career game with three or more goals. A native of Redondo Beach, California, Minestrella now owns 36 goals in her Duke career to move into fifth all-time on Duke's record charts.

The Blue Devils also received goals from Katie Shea Collins and Sam Courtwright on the night, while Rhode Island added an own goal. Duke outshot Rhode Island, 33-4, on the evening. The Blue Devils improved to 3-0-1 on the year, while the Rams dropped to 1-2-1.

How It Happened

Duke jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 11:26 into the match. Freshman Yuna Marui fired a shot that was blocked, but the ball came back to her. Marui, who is from Osaka, Japan, crossed a perfect pass across the front of the box to a wide-open redshirt junior Sam Courtwright. A product of Dallas, Texas, Courtwright took a touch and fired a 12-foot shot into the left corner of the goal.
At the 19:23 mark, Duke challenged a play in which junior Katie Shea Collins fired a shot that went off a Rhode Island player's arm, resulting in a penalty kick. Senior Mia Minestrella stepped up and finished her fourth goal of the season to give Duke a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Devils collected their third goal of the first half as freshman Natalie Chudowsky took a pass from Daya King near midfield and drove all the way down near the box. She passed it to Collins just outside the left side of the box where Collins beat her defender, drove inside the box and fired a right-footed shot from 16 yards inside the right post to give Duke a 3-0 lead in the 27th minute.
At the end of the first half, Duke held a 15-1 advantage in shots with Collins (4), Courtwright (3) and Marui (3) leading the way.
The Blue Devils added another goal quickly in the second half as Collins crossed a ball in front of the goal where sophomore Avery Oder was challenging a Rams defender and the ball went off a Rhode Island player and into the goal to give Duke a 4-0 lead.
Duke made it 5-0 in the 47th minute as Lexi Coughlin and Oder combined to find a streaking Minestrella, who took a few touches and finished in the back of the net for her second goal of the night.
The Blue Devils scored twice in the first 1:22 of the second half.
Minestrella then notched her third career hat trick in the 58th minute as Courtwright started a free kick quickly and passed to Oder. A product of Calabasas, California, Oder drove in a little and then crossed a ball in front of the goal where Minestrella redirected it into the back of the net.
Rhode Island added a goal in the 68th minute by Emily Morgan to cut the lead to 6-1.
Duke finished the evening with a season-high 33 shots, while Rhode Island was limited to four. The Blue Devil bench players registered 15 shots, paced by a career-high five from Sofia Nuñez.

Notes

Sam Courtwright registered her second goal of the season and 11th of her career. She has scored or assisted in three of the four games this year.
Freshmen Yuna Marui and Natalie Chudowsky notched their first collegiate assists.
Duke has scored a goal in the first 11:26 of all four matches this season.
Senior captain Mia Oliaro made her Duke debut on the night and played 27 minutes. Bianca Dominguez also made her 2026 debut, seeing action in the final 17:50 of the match in goal.
The goal 44 seconds into the second half was the seventh-quickest in program history.
With her three goals on the night, Mia Minestrella now owns 36 goals over her career to move into fifth all-time on Duke's charts. Her 86 points are now seventh on Duke's record charts.
Minestrella now owns 27 career goals at home in 39 matches.
Minestrella notched her seventh career multi-goal performance to move up to a tie for fourth on Duke's career charts. She also notched multi-goal games in back-to-back contests for the first time in her career.
Katie Shea Collins scored for the second game in a row and the third time in four games this year. She owns three goals on the season and 26 over her career.
Avery Oder tied a career high with two assists on the night and has seven over her Duke career.
Duke scored in the second half for the first time this season.

Quotes

"Really encouraging play at times. We challenged the team to win both halves. We hadn't won a second half yet. We felt like today was a game in which we could step it up and that happened with the whole group. I think this team has this motivation right now to really perform and win every game. We spoke a little bit more after the other day about getting between the lines quickly and being dominant around the box. It was a little bit more of a killer instinct in the group going into today. I was definitely pleased to see that come to fruition." -- Duke head coach Kieran Hall

Next Match

Duke hits the road for a non-conference tilt Thursday, Aug. 27, as the second-ranked Blue Devils travel to Norfolk, Va., to face Old Dominion at 6 p.m., on ESPN+.

#GoDuke