Soccer Preview: #10 Arkansas vs. #17 Vanderbilt
FAYETTEVILLE – No. 10 Arkansas (3-2-2, 1-0-0 SEC) will host No. 17 Vanderbilt (6-1-1, 0-0-1 SEC) at Razorback Field for the SEC home opener on Thursday, September 18.
Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and the match will be streamed live on SEC Network+ with Josh Haley (play-by-play) and Kelly Hellbusch (analyst) on the call.
BACK HOME
Arkansas will return to Razorback Field 19 days since its last home game. The Hogs played 3 matches on the road and went 2-0-1 in that stretch, with a win over #11 BYU and an SEC win at Florida. They tied Creighton, 3-3, in Omaha on Sept. 5. Vanderbilt will be the fourth ranked opponent to visit Razorback Field this season. This is only the fifth home game. Arkansas and Vanderbilt last met in 2024 in Nashville, where the Hogs won 2-0. The Commodores own a 19-15-4 record against Arkansas but the Razorbacks lead 9-8-0 at Razorback Field.The Hogs’ last regular season loss to Vandy came in 2015 in Nashville. The last loss in Fayetteville came in 2012.
ON THE COMMODORES
Vanderbilt opened SEC play with a 0-0 draw against LSU in Nashville. The Commodores outshot LSU 15-9 and forced the Tigers to make eight saves, but didn’t get anything across. The Commodores have outscored opponents 19-2 this season and have accumulated six shutouts. VU owns one ranked win, over #16 Georgetown on Sept. 4. The Commodores were picked to finish sixth out of 16 teams in the SEC preseason coaches 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 39 SEC wins (in 49 opportunities), outscored its SEC opponents by 78 goals and appeared in the SEC Tournament finals 3 times. Arkansas sits atop the goal leaderboard by a wide margin with 111 scored since 2020. Alabama is the next closest team in the goals category with 78 against SEC opponents since 2020. South Carolina has the second most SEC wins since 2020 with 29. Arkansas has only lost 6 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 19-0-2 record in home SEC games since then.
LAST TIME OUT
Arkansas picked up its fifth straight win over the Gators on Thursday night in the SEC opener. Newcomers led the Hogs, with freshman Nuria Craig scoring the opening goal. Freshman Vailana Tu’ua added to the lead with a 55-second brace. Arkansas conceded two penalty kicks in the second half.
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 5 of the top 12 teams, 6 of the top 15, 7 of the top 20 and 9 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 will enter 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 five as the No. 16 team in TopDrawerSoccer’s poll and the No. 9 team in the United Soccer Coaches poll. Arkansas has been ranked in every United Soccer Coaches poll since September 13, 2022, 156 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 is 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 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.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
Arkansas is unbeaten in 46 of its last 49 matches at Razorback Field, dating back to 2021. The Hogs have gone 41-3-5 at Razorback Field since beating No. 25 BYU on Aug. 30, 2021. Arkansas is also unbeaten in its last 22 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 177-37 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).
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