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Rebecca Jozwiak | Staff Writer
The Duquesne men’s soccer team defeated the Xavier Musketeers, 1-0, on Sunday at Corcoran Field in Cincinnati. Until the last 10 minutes of gameplay, the contest was in a scoreless deadlock until redshirt sophomore Jaxon Ervin opened and closed the scoring with 9:24 left on the clock. His goal would turn out to be the only one Duquesne needed to secure the victory.
The win continues the Dukes’s 3-0 undefeated streak to open their season in Head Coach Chase Brooks’s 12th year with the team, and it came against a Xavier team that had shocked No. 2 Marshall, 2-0, on Thursday night. In recent years, Brooks has found early-season success with the Dukes, as they have gone 3-0 to start their season in two of the last three years.
A large part of the recent success that Brooks and his team have experienced are thanks to essential players returning to the team, such as forward Maxi Hopfer.
Hopfer is in form early on in his fourth season on the Bluff: he had the assist for Ervin’s goal and has scored four points over Duquesne’s first three games. The Austrian forward continues to build his legacy at Duquesne, as he ranks eighth in goals and ninth in points on Duquesne’s all-time list.
For much of the game, he wasn’t a factor, however, as Xavier showed more aggression on their offense than the Dukes did: the Musketeers attempted thirteen shots and nine corner kicks throughout the match compared to Duquesne’s two shots and two corners. It was Duquesne goalkeeper Zoltan Nagy who kept the Musketeers in check, as he enjoyed yet another dominant start. He made saves on all six of the Muskateers’ shots on goal.
Nagy, a senior, earned his first shutout on the season, lowering his goals against average to 0.80. He earned recognition as the Atlantic-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his performance.
The script would flip in the second half, as Xavier took all of their shots in the first half, with no attempts made to score on Nagy afterward. Both teams meandered offensively, and it looked like the match was destined to end in a scoreless draw until Ervin’s goal.
While Ervin, who leads the team with two goals after scoring against Canisius last Sunday, earned his second goal of the season as Hopfer earned his second assist, players off the Duquesne bench also contributed to Nagy’s shutout. Graduate forward Jack Rhead played in 67 minutes of the match, while senior defender Jack Emanuel also came off of the bench, playing for 41 minutes.
Freshmen and transfers are also making contributions to the team. Freshman forward Roni Badler and transfer Blaize Hardy earned their first career starts with Duquesne. Hardy, a redshirt sophomore, spent his first two years of eligibility at VCU, where he helped win the 2023 A-10 Championship.
The Dukes look to extend their undefeated streak to four when they face Niagara at Rooney Field on Thursday.