Soccer Preview: #11 Arkansas vs. Alabama
FAYETTEVILLE – No. 11 Arkansas (7-3-3, 5-1-1 SEC) will host Alabama (10-4-1, 4-0) on Thursday night at Razorback Field.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on SECN+ with Brett Dolan (play-by-play) and Josh Haley (analyst) on the call.
HOSTING THE TIDE
Arkansas will host Alabama for the first time since 2023, when the Hogs won 5-0 and then-Alabama was ranked the No. 9 team in the country. Alabama leads the all-time series 14-13-3 and last beat Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2017. 2022’s meeting featured the SEC’s first top 10 matchup of the 2020s. Then-No. 2 Alabama defeated then-No. 7 Arkansas, 2-1, in Tuscaloosa.
ON ALABAMA
Alabama is coming off a thrilling, come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Auburn in the Iron Bowl of Soccer on Friday. Melina Rebimbas’ effort in the match against the Tigers earned her SEC Offensive Player of the Week. The UA junior tallied a career-high five points off her first collegiate brace and an assist on the game-winning goal from Gianna Paul. In addition to the game winner, Paul also tallied a brace in the match, netting the Tide’s first shot of the game. Alabama is starting a three-game stretch against the league’s top teams: at No. 11 Arkansas, vs. Mississippi State and at No. 6 Tennessee. The Tide were picked to finish seventh 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 43 SEC wins and 5 ties (in 55 opportunities), outscored its SEC opponents by 84 goals and appeared in the SEC Tournament finals 3 times. Arkansas sits atop the goal leaderboard by a wide margin with 124 scored since 2020. Alabama is the next closest team in the goals category with 93 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 picked up its first road loss and first SEC loss of the season on Friday at No. 22 Georgia. The Bulldogs just needed one goal, in the 53rd minute, and held the Hogs to just one shot on target. Colby Hale received a red card and will serve his one-match suspension on Thursday when the Razorbacks host Alabama.
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. 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 49 of its last 52 matches at Razorback Field, dating back to 2021. The Hogs have gone 44-3-5 at Razorback Field since beating No. 25 BYU on Aug. 30, 2021. Arkansas is also unbeaten in its last 25 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 187-41 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.
SEC PLAY CATEGORY LEADERS
As a team, Arkansas leads the conference in wins (4), points (47), goals (16) and assists (15). On the individual side, Vailana Tu’ua ranks third in points (10) and fourth in goals (4). Bella Field ranks eighth with three goals and Kennedy Ball ranks first in SEC play assists (4).
For more information on Arkansas soccer, follow @RazorbackSoccer on social media.
