by Nicholas Fernbaugh | staff writer
The Duquesne men’s soccer team defeated the Niagara Purple Eagles, 1-0, on Thursday evening at Rooney Field, before drawing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at one goal apiece Tuesday night, bringing Duquesne’s unbeaten record to 4-0-1 to start the season.
The contest with Niagara was decided early, with midfielder Ashton Jell scoring the lone goal just 2 minutes and 49 seconds into the match. He was assisted by Jaxon Erwin as they took advantage of Purple Eagles keeper Jamie Barry being off his line, which even after the goal he would consistently do during the match.
Erwin’s assist of Jell’s goal puts him as the team leader of points and assists, with seven and three, respectively, as he continues to emerge as the primary scoring option for the Dukes this season. With Jell, he also is tied for the team lead in goals with two.
“Oh, [Erwin’s] been vital,” Duquesne Head Coach Chase Brooks said. “Just the energy he brings, the passion he brings. We’ve seen this from him over the last few seasons, but, you know, he’s just had some unfortunate injuries over the past couple of years. So you’re really seeing him, you’re really seeing what we’ve seen for the last couple of years, and now just finally clicking for him, which we’re really excited about.”
The game became a stalemate for the rest of the contest. Duquesne would lead going into the end of the first half despite being outshot eight to two as the Purple Eagles kept the pressure on the Dukes, despite having a record of 0-4 going into the match. Niagara’s best chance at tying the game was when they were awarded three corner kicks in quick succession late in the first half, but they couldn’t find an equalizer.
After the tense first half, the game would even out. Duquesne’s offense picked up the pace and would take six shots in the second half compared to Niagara’s seven.
“You know, as a group, it’s really important to stay connected, stay together throughout the whole thing. We battled through everything, fought for every ball,” said Jell.
Niagara had been shutout in their last three games heading into the contest, but turned up the pressure against the Dukes, putting up a total of 15 shots with seven going on goal. Duquesne keeper Zoltan Nagy made all seven saves, including four in the second half, to keep Niagara off the board.
“Well, again, we just remind our guys of what our principles are and what’s gotten us to this point. And just to keep going. And, you know, they’ve got a lot of energy because they’re trying to get their first win of the season.” Brooks said.
For Nagy, it was his second shutout of the year in just four games, and his second-straight after blanking Xavier last week, two performances which earned him two straight Atlantic 10 Conference Defensive Player of the Week awards.
“We can’t stop everybody from shooting, you know, shots to get through. He’s going to be there for them. So he’s done a great job specifically these last two games. When you’ve got a guy like Zoltan in goal, I think it gives confidence to everybody behind him. The shots that get through he’s going to be there for,” Brooks said of Nagy.
After two 3-1 wins to open the season against Seton Hill and Canisius, Duquesne’s two straight 1-0 victories highlighted a strong defense that might not have been as prevalent in the first two games.
“That’s a good thing to have as a team,” Nagy said of his team’s different paths to victory in the early going. “We know that we can move the ball around and score goals, and we know that we can also get dirty goals that we did at Xavier and even today. And then just the fact we tried our butts off for 90 minutes, no matter what.”
The men then went on the road against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Tuesday night at Alumni Soccer Stadium in South Bend, and walked away with a draw, 1-1.
Notre Dame had been ranked No. 23 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. The draw was Duquesne’s first result against a ranked team since a 3-1 victory over Rhode Island on Oct. 20, 2018. Rhode Island was also ranked No. 23 at the time.
The Dukes would get outshot in the first half, 8-2, but Nagy would only need one save to get through the half.
In the second half, the pressure got turned up as Fighting Irish midfielder Nolan Spicer scored in the 65th minute with an assist coming from Bryce Boneau.
The Dukes would be smothered through the rest of the game, as they ended up getting outshot 21-3 with only one shot in the second half.
That one shot turned out to be the equalizer, as in the 86th minute Notre Dame’s KK Baffour was called for a foul in the box. Dakota Jonke, who transferred from Cornell in the offseason, scored from the spot for his first goal as a Duke.
The Fighting Irish desperately tried to get the lead back, as less than a minute later Baffour made his own attempt on goal, which Nagy turned aside. Duquesne would survive the final three minutes to achieve the draw.
The unbeaten start has turned some heads around the college soccer world. Top Drawer Soccer ranked Duquesne No. 21 in their latest poll.
The Dukes will look toward getting back in the win column as they take on local rival Robert Morris on Tuesday in Moon Township.