Razorbacks use late penalty to salvage draw against No. 2 Notre Dame

Hogs midfielder keeps her cool with pressure kick to pull off big draw against highly-ranked Irish

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Zoe Susi mobbed by teammates after penalty kick for draw against the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-allHOGS Images

In a game that had the same number of video reviews as goals Arkansas salvaged a 2-2 draw against the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish with a penalty in the 81st minute. from midfielder Zoe Susi.

🗣️ GAME ON pic.twitter.com/Yl0CbO7hLv

— Arkansas Soccer (@RazorbackSoccer) August 18, 2025

"Ice," coach Colby Hale said. "She's been so good in the last two games. Really, really proud of her."

For most of the night, it looked like Arkansas did not heed the warning that Hale issued to the team about "touching the burner," and were on course to get burned again.

The Razorbacks' lead from an early goal in the 6th minute lasted was gone less than three minutes later.

The Hogs were opprtunistic when the Notre Dame defense made mistake in defense. Kennedy Ball stepped in front of the defender and had no problem getting past Sonoma Kasica in a 1-on-1 situation to give the Razorbacks its first lead of the season.

"It's progress," Hale said. Everybody that comes and watches us play can tell you if that's us. They know what it is supposed to look like. Was it perfect? No. Is there some things to work on? Yes. Did it feel more like us, 100%."

INTERCEPTED!

Ken scores the opener! pic.twitter.com/BYbdc9qkpO

— Arkansas Soccer (@RazorbackSoccer) August 17, 2025

With less than 90 seconds left in the first half, forward Ellie Hodsen got a free run up the right side of the pitch and scored a goal unassisted as Arkansas couldn't close down the space in time.

"We got to clean some stuff up," Hale said. "The goals we've given up, they're all fixable. Two are from distance, they're no angle, some of them are a little lucky if I'm being honest. But we got to get a little tighter in and around the box."

𝑪𝑶𝑨𝑺𝑻 𝑻𝑶 𝑪𝑶𝑨𝑺𝑻 🤯

Oh my, Ellie Hodsden with the unbelievable effort to put the Irish in front!#GoIrish☘️ | #SCtop10 | 📺 SECN pic.twitter.com/IMum479XSw

— Notre Dame Women's Soccer (@NDSoccer) August 18, 2025

Arkansas needed a spark, or they risked falling to 0-2 for the first time since 2021 after losing the opener to Iowa 3-2. Susi and the rest of the team used Hale's reference from Top Gun to keep the right mindset.

"That's kind of our motto here," Susi said. "Just go blow it up, blow the plane up. One of Colby's favorite things is the movie Top Gun. He's always telling us "blow the plane up."

Thru the frenzied attack, the Hogs did just enough "blowing up" to head into its first road test against Georgia Southern in a week's time.

"Everyone was kind of just individually pressing [against Iowa]," midfielder Jailyn Brownlee said. "Tonight, we all went together, let's just go for it. We had nothing to lose."

Kickoff against Georgia Southern is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday and will be streamed on ESPN+.