Delaware women roll past Cornell to continue best start in program history

The University of Delaware women’s soccer program continued a historic run on Thursday night, defeating Cornell 3-1 at home via goals by Taisiya Reid, Gabby Riley, and Adiat Olaogun-Dickson. The convincing performance was the team’s seventh match unbeaten to start the 2025 season, winning six and settling for a draw only once.

The seven matches unbeaten is the strongest start for the program in their 35-year history.

Thursday’s home match at Grant Stadium was the first in five matches. The promising Delaware squad remained unbeaten after surviving a challenging 4-match road trip, defeating George Mason, Navy, and UMBC as well earning a draw at Towson. Cornell also went into the match unbeaten by way of two draws and two wins, appearing to be one of Delaware’s most difficult opponents to date.

Despite the gravity of the match and the quality of the opponent, Delaware looked very comfortable in their return home, scoring twice within the first 15 minutes of the match. Taisiya Reid opened the scoring in the 8th minute after some chaos in the Cornell box, tying the team lead for her third goal of the season. Sophomore Gabby Riley (Middletown, Del.) scored from the penalty spot in the 14th minute for her first NCAA goal to extend the Delaware lead.

Cornell scored a goal just before half in the 38th minute, but it proved to be only a consolation as Adiat Olaogun-Dickson (Sicklerville, N.J.) scored a third Delaware goal on in the 61st minute, putting the result on ice for the Blue Hens. Olaogun-Dickson’s goal was her third of the season, tying Reid, Maggie Groh, and Lilli Lubic for the team lead. The match ended 3-1, ending the unbeaten season of Cornell and continuing an unprecedented win for Delaware.

Delaware’s early season streak is unparalleled in their history, with previous record unbeaten runs coming in 1994 and 2006 when the team started 5-0 and 5-0-1 respectively. Head Coach Kelly Lawrence’s team has thrived in four matches away from home and now is in the midst of a four-match stretch of home matches. The Blue Hens will not travel again until September 25th when they face New Mexico State. The young team appears to be building on their 2024 season in which they earned their first trip to the CAA Tournament since 2019 but their first season in Conference USA await with conference play starting Sept. 21  New additions to the coaching staff have rejuvenated the program under Lawrence, including goalkeepers coach Shannon Coley and Downingtown West alum Becky Edwards.

Delaware is back in action on Sunday, September 7th at noon against Drexel, looking to extend their unbeaten run to 8 matches. Their conference schedule will begin at home on September 21st at noon, when they will host FIU.