Why Razorbacks coach Colby Hale still worried after shutout win

Arkansas fans were treated to the team's first win of the season Sunday morning, a 2-0 triumph over Georgia Southern after a last-minute venue change.

Rain left the field in Statesboro, Ga., unplayable and changed what would have been Arkansas' first road test into an impromptu home game. Kickoff, originally scheduled for 11:30 a.m., was delayed for 30 minutes due to the late arriving visiting Eagles, who landed in Fayetteville just over an hour before kickoff.

Despite the win, coach Colby Hale was displeased with his team's performance, noting that Georgia Southern had to play a game on Thursday, a 1-0 win over Western Carolina, while his team had the full week off, having not played since last Sunday against Notre Dame.

"It was as poor of a performance as I can remember the Razorback coach in 13 years," Hale said. There's no positive. There's zero positives. We have a standard, that's not even close."

Arkansas Razorbacks' Erin Bailey dodges a Georgia Southern defender in game Sunday in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-allHOGS Imagers

Hale struggled to see any positives to take from the game despite the team picking up its first shutout of the year. With much stiffer competition looming, Hale took a page out of Arizona State football coach Kenny Dillingham to describe his team's performance.

If Arkansas continues to play like this, Hale believes that the team's record will eventually pay the price.

"I heard the Arizona State coach the other day say 'Listen, someone's got to go .500'," Hale said. "Someone's got to go 5-7. Well, that's looking like us, because we do not work. This is nothing like we want it to be."

Once play got underway, the Hogs wasted no time taking the lead. Midfielder Erin Bailey needed just 46 seconds to deposit the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.

Bailey, who transferred to the Razorbacks after three seasons at BYU, scored her first goal in Razorback red after eight goals in 2024 in 15 games for the Cougars.

.@erin7bailey just needed 41 seconds for her first goal as a Razorback! pic.twitter.com/8bq54Tl971
— Arkansas Soccer (@RazorbackSoccer) August 24, 2025

The Razorbacks controlled the entire first half, outshooting Georgia Southern 11-2, but didn't get a second goal until the 40th minute.

Less than 3 minutes after making her college debut, freshman Camila Palacios got around a defender and doubled Arkansas' lead.

Cheeky @campalacios10 pic.twitter.com/aMmV6o3YsU
— Arkansas Soccer (@RazorbackSoccer) August 24, 2025

Goalie Keegan Smith made just one save across the 90 minutes as Georgia Southern managed just three shots, but Arkansas was also held scoreless for the second half.

"They [Georgia Southern] saw it as 'Hey, we're gonna come in and upset this top team'," Hale said. We treated it like a Sunday kick around, and that's disrespectful to a really good Georgia Southern team.

Because of the venue change, Arkansas' opening two weeks have become a four-game homestand. The homestand finale is a showdown with the No. 1 Duke, who is 2-0-0 on the season with wins over No. 11 Penn State and Northwestern.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday and will be streamed on SEC Network+.

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