Soccer Preview: #11 Arkansas at Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 11 Arkansas (8-3-3, 6-1-1 SEC) will play its away match of the regular season at Missouri (4-10-1, 1-7-0 SEC) on Sunday afternoon.
Kickoff is set for 2:00 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on SECN+ with Casey Roehl (play-by-play) and Simon Rose (analyst) on the call.
LAST ROAD TRIP
Arkansas will travel to Missouri for its final regular-season road trip. The Hogs own a 9-3-0 advantage in the all-time series. The Hogs won last year’s meeting, 8-2, and have won every meeting since 2016, outscoring Missouri, 17-3. Arkansas has played decently on the road, with a pair of results against top 15 teams and a 3-1-2 away record this season. Arkansas can clinch a share of the SEC regular season title on Sunday IF Georgia AND Tennessee don’t win their matches AND Arkansas beats Missouri. Georgia will host Auburn and Tennessee will travel to Vanderbilt.
ON ALABAMA
Missouri enters its 16th contest of the 2025 season after a 2-1 loss at Texas A&M on Thursday, October 16. The Tigers erased an early deficit with a first-half equalizer before the Aggies pulled ahead on a second-half penalty. Mizzou opened SEC play with a 3-1 win over Texas, earning the program’s 10th SEC home-opening victory. Missouri was picked 15th in the SEC preseason poll.
SEC PLAY IN THE 2020s
The Razorbacks have dominated the SEC since the turn of the decade (and 2019, the first year Arkansas won the regular season title). Since 2020, Arkansas has won 3 SEC regular season titles, accumulated 44 SEC wins and 5 ties (in 56 opportunities), outscored its SEC opponents by 86 goals and appeared in the SEC Tournament finals 3 times. Arkansas sits atop the goal leaderboard by a wide margin with 127 scored since 2020. Alabama is the next closest team in the goals category with 94 against SEC opponents. South Carolina has the second most SEC wins since 2020 with 32. Arkansas has only lost 7 SEC games since 2020 and has not lost an SEC game at Razorback Field since Oct. 16, 2020 against South Carolina, giving the Hogs a 22-0-3 record in home SEC games since then.
LAST TIME OUT
Arkansas improved to 6-1-1 in SEC play after a 3-1 win over Alabama on Thursday night at Razorback Field. Bella Field scored first, a PK. Alabama leveled in the 33rd minute. Vailana Tu’ua scored her team-leading fifth goal, the game-winner. Kennedy Ball scored the insurance goal in the 87th minute. AHC Sammy Scofield served as the acting head coach with Colby Hale serving a one-game suspension. Arkansas extended its SEC home match unbeaten streak to 26 matches (23-0-3), which dates back to 2020.
TOUGH SCHEDULE
According to NCAA women’s soccer guru Chris Henderson (@chris_awk), Arkansas will play the third-hardest overall schedule and the second-hardest non-conference schedule, behind Penn State. As of this week’s poll, Arkansas played/will play 4 of the top 15 and 6 of the top 25. No other team in the country started the season with four ranked opponents in five matches. Clemson, Duke and BYU have played three top 25 teams through the first three weeks of the season.
KEEPING IT FRIENDLY
The Razorbacks played two preseason exhibitions before the first week of games, against UT Martin and Oral Roberts. Arkansas outscored both teams 9-1. Newcomers carried the Razorbacks in both matches, accounting for 6 of the Hogs’ 9 goals. Freshman Paige Szymanski led the way with three goals. BYU transfer Erin Bailey recorded a brace against ORU. Freshman Vailana Tu’ua scored the opener against ORU.
HIGH ON THE HOGS
Arkansas entered the first week of matches ranked No. 6 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason top 25, its highest preseason ranking in program history. The Hogs received the No. 7 ranking in TopDrawerSoccer’s preseason top 25 and were predicted to win the SEC regular season championship by the league’s head coaches. The Razorbacks enter week 10 as the No. 12 team in TopDrawerSoccer’s poll and the No. 11 team in the United Soccer Coaches poll. Arkansas has been ranked in every United Soccer Coaches poll since September 13, 2022, 161 weeks ago. Last season, the Hogs received their first No. 1 ranking in program history and the first for an SEC team since 1998.
SOLID SIGNEES
Arkansas’ 2025 recruiting class finished at No. 19 in TopDrawerSoccer’s team recruiting class rankings. This marks the first time Colby Hale has signed a top 25 class since his tenure began at Arkansas in 2012. Muiltiple players ranked in the IMG Academy National Top 200: #65 Nuria Craig (#11 in Texas, #18 Defender), #86 Vailana Tu’ua (#16 in SoCal, #26 Forward), #155 Camila Palacios (#18 in Texas, #52 Forward) and #173 Natalie Wagner (#20 in Texas, #59 Forward). Craig and Tu’ua received 4-star rankings from TopDrawerSoccer.
IMPACT TRANSFERS
Hale brought in a solid transfer class as well, with BYU midfielder Erin Bailey, Seminole State forward/midfielder Aniyah Nurse-Whyte and veteran Utah goalkeeper Evelyn Vitali joining Arkansas for the 2025 season. In three seasons out west, Erin Bailey racked up 36 points on 16 goals and two assists. In 2023, she scored 10 goals in 26 appearances for her BYU team that ended its historic season in the College Cup. The Cougars led the NCAA with 79 goals and 238 points. At Seminole, Aniyah Nurse-Whyte made an immediate impact for the storied JUCO program in her freshman year. She led the team with 15 goals and ranked third in assists with 12. One of her goals sent her team to the JUCO national tournament for the sixth straight year. Nurse-Whyte received NJCAA Division I All-America Third Team, United Soccer Coaches Junior College Division I All-America Team and the Region II All-Region First Team honors. Evelyn Vitali is entering her fifth year of college soccer. Originally at Oklahoma State before heading to Utah, Vitali received numerous honors during her freshman year with the Cowgirls, including a spot on the Big 12 All-Freshman Team and TopDrawerSoccer’s Top 100 Freshmen list. Vitali recorded seven shutouts and started in all 18 matches that season. Vitali played a scoreless 135 minutes in goal during both of Arkansas’ preseason exhibitions.
KEEPER KEEGAN
Arkansas sophomore goalkeeper Keegan Smith has quickly cemented herself as one of the program’s best after just one season between the pipes. In her debut season in 2024, Smith tied former Razorback Grace Barbara (2022) for the single-season shutout record (11) and finished with the second-lowest goals-against average (.62) behind former Hog and current Racing Louisville FC keeper Katie Lund (.48, 2019). The Bath, New York native shut out seven of Arkansas’ 10 SEC regular season opponents and two of three NCAA Tournament opponents (Oklahoma State and Cal) to lead the Razorbacks back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2022. She allowed just six goals at Razorback Field to help the Hogs to an unbeaten home record of 11-0-2. Keegan was the first freshman goalkeeper in program history to receive All-SEC honors. She finished the season ranked as the No. 3 freshman in the nation and was placed on the Best XI Freshman Team by TopDrawerSoccer. During the offseason, Smith was called up to the U-19 U.S. Women’s National Team training camp in Spain in February of 2025. She was called up a second time in June of 2025, this time for the U-18/19 U.S. YNT combined training camp in Fayetteville, Georgia. Smith picked up her first shutout of 2025 in the 2-0 win over Georgia Southern on August 24. Smith added another clean sheet, her 13th overall, on September 2 at BYU. She tied her career high with 9 saves, including several highlight reel saves that garnered attention on social media.
TWO FOR TU’UA
Freshman forward Vailana Tu’ua was the first Razorback to record a brace this season, after netting two goals in 55 seconds at Florida in the SEC opener at Florida on Sept. 11. The first was her first collegiate goal. Tu’ua added her third collegiate goal on Sept. 21 at Texas A&M, the eventual game-winner. Tu’ua’s team-leading fourth goal came on Oct. 2 at No. 10 South Carolina. Tu’ua was named SEC Freshman of the Week and became the first Arkansas player to receive honors during the regular season this year. She scored the game-winner against Alabama on Oct. 16 and ranks fourth in SEC play with five goals, tied for the most by a freshman this season. Tu’ua scored a goal in Arkansas’ exhibition match against ORU and recorded a 20-minute hat-trick in the spring against John Brown. Tu’ua picked up her first collegiate assist on Sept. 19 against No. 17 Vanderbilt in what would be the game-winning goal. She assisted in one of Arkansas’ goals against Ole Miss on Sept. 26 and recorded at least one point in the first five SEC matches this season.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Arkansas is unbeaten in 50 of its last 53 matches at Razorback Field, dating back to 2021. The Hogs have gone 45-3-5 at Razorback Field since beating No. 25 BYU on Aug. 30, 2021. Arkansas is also unbeaten in its last 26 SEC home matches, dating back to 2020. The three losses came on November 17, 2023, against Pittsburgh in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, on Aug. 14, 2025, against No. 13 Iowa and on Aug. 28 against No. 3 Duke. The Razorbacks have outscored opponents 190-42 at Razorback Field during this stretch.
PRESEASON FAVES
For the third straight season, Arkansas was picked to win the SEC regular season championship by the league’s head coaches. 1. Arkansas 9. Auburn 2. Texas 10. Kentucky 3. South Carolina 11. LSU 3. Georgia 12. Texas A&M 5. Tennessee 13. Oklahoma 6. Vanderbilt 13. Florida 7. Alabama 15. Missouri 8. Mississippi State 16. Ole Miss
MOVING ON
Arkansas lost 66% (47 of 71 goals) of its NCAA-leading offense last season, including top scorers Kate Doyle (13g, 6a), Ava Tankersley (12g, 9a) and Anaiyah Robinson (11g, 1a). The Razorbacks led the NCAA in goals (71), points (219) and ranked second in assists (77). They also led the nation in scoring offense (3.38), assists per game (3.67), points per game (10.43), corner kicks per game (8.67), SOG per game (11.52) and goal differential (57).
BELLA IS BACK
Forward Bella Field has made a loud return since breaking her nose in pregame warmups at Creighton on Sept. 5. Field scored a brace in her first game back, against Ole Miss on Sept. 26, exactly three weeks after breaking her nose. Against No. 10 South Carolina on Oct. 2, Field scored Arkansas’ first goal on a corner kick, her second header goal this season. She scored the opener against Alabama on Oct. 16, her first career penalty kick goal.
SEC PLAY CATEGORY LEADERS
As a team, Arkansas leads the conference in wins (6), points (54), goals (19) and assists (16). On the individual side, Vailana Tu’ua ranks fifth in points (12) and fourth in goals (5). Bella Field ranks sixth with three goals and Kennedy Ball ranks first in SEC play assists (4).
For more information on Arkansas soccer, follow @RazorbackSoccer on social media.
