by Mason Noll | staff writer
On Sunday afternoon, Duquesne women’s soccer celebrated seniors Maddy Neundorfer, Mackenzie Leeder and Ally Campanella before its 4-2 win against Kent State. All three seniors would get the start in the game.
Duquesne Head Coach Al Alvine has taken a temporary absence for an undisclosed reason, so Acting Head Coach Dave Gray took the reins for the Dukes.
When asked if there were any challenges having to step in as the head coach, Gray responded, “Not really, Al and I have a really good relationship, and we did a lot of things together, so it really wasn’t all that difficult it was just maintaining what we’ve been doing.”
To start the game, Kent State’s Alisa Arthur took the first shot that missed to the right of the goal in the first minute. After that, both teams struggled to string together passes down the field and maintain possession of the ball as the defenses stood strong.
The sloppy play continued as the two teams seemed only to be able to fire shots from a distance, and the game became slightly tense. Campanella was given a yellow card in the 29th minute, and then Mackenzie Muir proceeded to get her own a minute later.
Yellow cards were a trend on the day as the referee would go on to give out seven total yellow cards, five of which were given to Duquesne. Foul calls were abundant as a total of 26 fouls were called, 18 of them coming against Duquesne.
The constant warnings would not stop the Dukes, though, as they started putting pressure on the Kent State defense late in the first half. At the 31-minute mark, Maya Matesa dribbled the ball down the right sideline, embarrassing defenders along the way, and got inside the penalty box but was blocked by Kent State goalkeeper Heidi Marshall. Brianna Moore then fired two shots, one in the 34th minute and one in the 40th minute, that were both saved by Marshall. Finally, just after the second shot, Moore would get her goal as Kayla Leseck crossed the ball in from the right side of the field and was able to find Moore, who chipped it over the keeper to give the Dukes a 1-0 lead at the half.
The second half began with Margey Brown extending the Dukes lead to 2-0, when she streaked down the left side of the field and then cut inside the defense to finish with a goal that slipped under Marshall at the 54-minute mark. With the goal, Brown has now scored in five consecutive games and leads Duquesne with 18 points thanks to seven goals and four assists this season.
Kent State wouldn’t back down from Duquesne’s two-goal lead. In the 57th minute, Arthur took a free kick and buried it in the back of the net over the outstretched arm of Neundorfer to tighten the match, 2-1.
Duquesne immediately responded seconds later to snap any momentum the Golden Flashes had gained, as Moore stole the ball from the defender and beat Marshall one-on-one for her second goal of the day and to give Duquesne a 3-1 advantage. Moore took six of Duquesne’s 20 shots on the day and now has four goals on the season.
“It’s more of the same performance we’ve been getting from her over the past couple of games, she’s just been electric for us, and man, she’s been really good around the goal,” Gray said of Moore’s two-goal day.
Kent State wouldn’t go away as Arthur scored on another set-piece in the 78th minute to make it 3-2. But Duquesne was resilient, once again responding within a minute, as Moore assisted Matesa who curled a shot off the left post to extend the lead to 4-2.
In the final 10 minutes, the Dukes were able to maintain possession of the ball and calm the game down, eventually getting the victory.
With the win, the Dukes improved to 4-1 and concluded their homestand to stay perfect at Rooney Field at 4-0. They embark on a three-game road streak, the third of which will begin their Atlantic 10 Conference schedule. Gray’s message to the team moving forward is simple.
“Stay on the tracks, keep rolling, we’ve been playing well, and this was a very good opponent today we played, so we need to keep moving forward the way we have been and get better every day.”
Duquesne next plays Thursday at Saint Francis before going the other direction for a Sunday afternoon match with Youngstown State.
The A-10 grind will begin following then with a Sept. 19 game at Richmond, before a return to Rooney Field on Sept. 22 vs. Davidson.