No. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks women’s soccer will face No. 11 BYU in Provo on Tuesday, September 2, marking their first road game of the season. The match is scheduled for an 8 p.m. kickoff and will be streamed on ESPN+ with Spencer Linton providing play-by-play, Carla Swensen-Haslam as analyst, and Mary Hayes reporting.
This game represents Arkansas’ fourth contest against a top 25 opponent in its opening five matches and its first such matchup away from home. Previously this season, Arkansas hosted No. 13 Iowa (loss, 3-2), No. 2 Notre Dame (tie, 2-2), and No. 3 Duke (loss, 2-0). Head coach Colby Hale holds an all-time record of 11-3-2 against Big 12 teams and is 22-36-10 against ranked opponents, including a mark of 9-11-6 since 2021. Against BYU specifically, Hale is undefeated with two wins and one draw; the teams last played to a tie in Provo in 2022.
Arkansas was originally slated to play Georgia Southern on the road but relocated that match to Fayetteville due to weather concerns.
BYU enters the match with a record of 3-0-1 and has defeated three top-25 teams so far this season. Their most recent victory came against Auburn at home before a crowd of over four thousand fans. In that game, BYU benefited from an own goal by Auburn followed by sophomore defender Presley Freeman’s first collegiate goal to secure a shutout win. Goalkeeper Paiton Collins has not conceded any goals at home this year.
According to NCAA women’s soccer analyst Chris Henderson (@chris_awk), Arkansas faces one of the toughest schedules nationally—third overall and second among non-conference slates behind Penn State. Based on the United Soccer Coaches preseason poll, Arkansas will compete against several highly ranked teams throughout their schedule: #13 Iowa, #2 Notre Dame, #4 Duke, and #11 BYU among others.
In preseason exhibitions against UT Martin and Oral Roberts, newcomers led Arkansas’ offense by scoring six out of nine total goals across both games.
Arkansas achieved its highest-ever preseason ranking at No. 6 in the United Soccer Coaches poll and was also predicted by SEC head coaches to win the conference regular season championship for a third consecutive year.
The program’s incoming recruiting class ranks No. 19 nationally according to TopDrawerSoccer’s team rankings—the first top-25 class signed during Colby Hale’s tenure—and features multiple players from the IMG Academy National Top 200 list.
Key transfers joining Arkansas include former BYU midfielder Erin Bailey (16 career goals), Seminole State forward/midfielder Aniyah Nurse-Whyte (15 goals as a freshman), and veteran goalkeeper Evelyn Vitali who previously played for Oklahoma State and Utah.
Sophomore goalkeeper Keegan Smith tied the program’s single-season shutout record as a freshman last year with eleven clean sheets while earning All-SEC honors—the first freshman keeper in school history to do so—and was recognized as one of the nation’s top freshmen by TopDrawerSoccer.
At Razorback Field since August 2021, Arkansas has gone unbeaten in forty-six out of forty-nine matches while outscoring opponents by a wide margin during that period.
For more updates about Arkansas soccer, information can be found via @RazorbackSoccer on social media platforms.
