Preseason No. 6 Arkansas Razorbacks women’s soccer will open its 2025 campaign with two top-15 matchups at Razorback Field this week. The team faces No. 13 Iowa on Thursday, August 14, at 6:30 p.m., marking the first-ever meeting between the programs. On Sunday, August 17, Arkansas hosts No. 2 Notre Dame at the same time, with the game set to air on SEC Network.
Fans can watch Thursday’s match against Iowa live via SEC Network+. Tickets for the season are available online or at Razorback Field, priced at $55 for a season pass and $11 for single games.
Arkansas and Iowa have both experienced recent success in their conferences and NCAA Tournament appearances. This is Arkansas’ first season opener against a top-25 opponent since playing Duke in 2021. Head coach Colby Hale holds a record of 2-2-3 against Big Ten teams.
Iowa enters after being picked sixth in the Big Ten Preseason Poll and returns its top three goal scorers from last year, including midfielder Sofia Bush. The Hawkeyes set a program record in 2024 with six consecutive shutouts and allowed only 12 goals all season—a new program low—while shutting out four ranked opponents.
Arkansas is scheduled to play what has been described as one of the toughest slates in NCAA women’s soccer this year, facing six preseason top-25 teams overall and three during non-conference play: Iowa, Notre Dame, and Duke. According to United Soccer Coaches’ preseason poll, BYU is also receiving significant votes among non-conference opponents.
In preseason exhibitions against UT Martin and Oral Roberts, newcomers contributed six of nine total goals for Arkansas. Freshman Paige Szymanski scored three times across both matches; BYU transfer Erin Bailey added two goals versus ORU; freshman Vailana Tu’ua netted an opener as well.
The team enters this week ranked No. 6 nationally by United Soccer Coaches—the highest preseason ranking in program history—and was predicted by league coaches to win the SEC regular season title.
Arkansas’ incoming recruiting class ranks No. 19 nationally according to TopDrawerSoccer—the first top-25 class under Coach Hale since he joined in 2012—with several signees listed among IMG Academy’s National Top 200 prospects.
The transfer group includes Erin Bailey (BYU), Aniyah Nurse-Whyte (Seminole State), and Evelyn Vitali (Utah). Bailey recorded double-digit goals last year for BYU’s College Cup squad; Nurse-Whyte led her JUCO team with fifteen goals as a freshman; Vitali brings experience from Oklahoma State and Utah along with several collegiate honors.
Sophomore goalkeeper Keegan Smith tied Arkansas’ single-season shutout record last year with eleven clean sheets and posted a .62 goals-against average—second best in school history—while helping lead the Hogs back to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament. Smith earned All-SEC honors as a freshman and participated twice this offseason with U.S. youth national teams.
Since August 2021, Arkansas has gone unbeaten in forty-four of its last forty-five home matches at Razorback Field—including twenty-two straight SEC home games without defeat—and outscored opponents by more than five-to-one over that span.
For the third consecutive year, league coaches picked Arkansas as favorites to win the SEC regular season championship despite losing sixty-six percent of their offensive production from last season when they led Division I women’s soccer in multiple scoring categories.
