Orion Moses | Staff Writer
Sept. 13, 2018
The Duquesne men’s soccer team suffered a 1-0 loss at the hands of Saint Francis University at Rooney Field on Sept. 12, moving the Dukes to 1-3 on the season.
The game’s lone goal was netted by the Red Flash’s Leonardo Ribeiro in a match that was full of physicality from the start. Early in the first half, SFU starting goalkeeper Jonas Dieseler suffered an injury on a collision with Duquesne sophomore Zion Beaton. He left the match and was replaced by backup keeper Alex Morgret.
The first half alone featured three yellow cards: one to Beaton, and two to Saint Francis midfielders, Kevin Smolyn and Lucas Canineu.
“It’s Division I college soccer. Welcome to it,” said Dukes Head Coach Chase Brooks of the physicality of the match.
Saint Francis saw three players suffer injuries. Along with the exit of Dieseler, sophomores Brandon Ott and Leonardo Ribeiro both left the match for a significant amount of time, but both later returned.
The low-scoring match saw 24 total shots and 12 corner kicks. Duquesne had two corner kicks within the first minute of the contest, but were unable to capitalize on either.
“If you look at the first 20 minutes of the first half, I thought we were on them pretty well. We created some very good opportunities,” Brooks said. “We could’ve been up 2-0 in the first 20 minutes, but instead, it’s 0-0.”
On the positive side of things, Coach Brooks was pleased with the defensive effort that his team showed against the Red Flash.
“I think our defense is doing pretty well,” Brooks said. “We kind of broke down a little bit in the first half as they figured us out, but that’s soccer. Soccer is a game of moves and countermoves, so I thought we were to address that at halftime. We came out and I thought we were all over them again.”
The Dukes continue their season on Sept. 16 at Rooney Field versus Temple at 7 p.m. Duquesne will be getting a little help Sunday, as well, as senior midfielder Olav Hovstad is expected to return from an injury for the match.
“Olav is recovering from a leg injury, but he’ll be fine. I feel like he is going to be ready to go on Sunday, so that’s really nice to see,” Brooks said.
