Sean McKean | staff writer
The Duquesne men’s soccer team is off to a hot start in 2024, opening their season with a pair of 3-1 victories at Rooney Field. They beat Seton Hill last week, before welcoming another non-conference opponent in Canisius on Sunday.
Duquesne scored three times, as Jaxon Ervin, Roni Badler, and Ali Nasser all scored. Ervin and Bendix Bennetzen assisted on Badler’s game-winning goal, while Maxi Hopfer paved the way for Nasser’s score. As for the Golden Griffins, their sole score came from Mesafint Ellingson in the first half. Ellingson, Michael Switala, and Ely Sibide collectively led in shots with two.
While Duquesne started rather conservatively – passing the ball without advancing much – Canisius came out aggressively, taking two fouls within the first minutes which gave the Dukes a pair of free kicks.
The first 10 minutes saw possession mostly lie in favor of the Dukes, featuring three shots from Jesper Moksnes, Ervin and Bennetzen respectively. The Golden Griffins had their own three opportunities as well in the same period, but they also did not connect.
With the temperature over 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the referee opted to call for several more than the two mandatory hydration breaks. Starting in the 13th minute, breaks would be called every 13 minutes for the remainder of play.
The Dukes took advantage of the first break, as right when they got back underway, Bennetzen got his second shot-on-goal of the game. Canisius followed this up with another shot from the corner by Switala.
Just over the 19-minute mark, Ervin finally connected into the net to put the Dukes up by one. The Golden Griffins tried to follow it up, with shots by Ely Sidibe and Switala being on target at 24 minutes, but Sidibe’s went wide and Zoltan Nagy turned aside Switala.
After these shots, Canisius also picked up the aggression on defense, but in the process gave Duquesne an opportunity at corner, leading to a saved shot from Moksnes.
The Golden Griffins would achieve their equalizer at the 38:10-mark. After a clumsy defensive spell near goal, it opened up the opportunity for Ellingson to get their first goal of the game. Aside from a few more on-target shots, the first half would end with a score of 1-1.
The Dukes came out hot for the second half, just missing a goal only one minute into the half from Jack Rhead soon followed by another from Roni Badler. This started a theme similar to the first half, wherein the Dukes mostly maintained possession with the Golden Griffins maintaining solid defense.
Ten minutes into the second half, Duquesne recaptured the lead. With a nice center from Ervin, Badler was able to ease one into the net, putting the Dukes back up by one.
Following the goal, Canisius returned to a more aggressive approach to offense and managed to gain more possession, but they were initially unsuccessful in their advances toward the net. This amounted to the first yellow card of the game – specifically, for Syndey Aggrey – for aggression toward Nagy in goal.
After this caution, Canisius took a step back, handing the Dukes back primary possession. Although they put up a littany of shots, the Dukes initially couldn’t find their way into a third goal. The second yellow card of the game also came from a Duke at 79 minutes from Grant McIntosh.
Duquesne finally put away the clinching goal at 81 minutes. Assisted by Hopfer, Nasser managed to boot it into the net from outside the box, putting the Dukes up by two.
With the win, Duquesne has started 2-0 for the second time in three seasons. They next play on Sunday at Xavier. The trip to Cincinnati is the return fixture of a home-and-home series which Duquesne lost last year, 2-0.