Spencer Thomas | Sports Editor
Oct. 6, 2022
Behind a second-half scoring surge that netted three goals for the visitors, the Duquesne women’s soccer team propelled itself to a 4-2 victory at La Salle on Sunday afternoon.
At least statistically, it was a tale of two halves for the Dukes, as they survived the sloppy play induced by heavy rain after being outperformed early.
They entered halftime trailing 2-1 and being outshot by a 12-2 margin. Cami Taylor’s 22nd-minute goal was canceled out by a penalty kick goal from La Salle’s Alyssa Gargiulo just 37 seconds later. The Explorers would add another marker in the 44th minute of the first half.
La Salle entered the locker room with a 7-2 advantage on corner kicks. However, the second half saw a dramatic swing in momentum in favor of Duquesne.
The Dukes outshot the Explorers 8-2 in the second frame, and eventually cashed in with a 63rd-minute, game-tying goal from Eva LaVecchia, the first of her collegiate career.
In the 75th minute, Mackenzie Muir broke the deadlock with an unassisted goal. Maya Matesa added an insurance marker in the 84th minute, allowing the Dukes to ride out a two-goal victory.
Four goals marked a season-high in goals in a game for the Dukes, while also showing a diversity in attacking options. Each goal was scored by a different attacker, and the three assists came from three different Dukes.
Though the win came against a La Salle team that is now 1-4 in Atlantic 10 Conference play this season, it demonstrated some life on an offense that had been lacking in recent weeks.
The win broke a two-game losing streak for Duquesne, while Taylor’s goal ended a 245-minute goalless stretch that dated back to Duquesne’s 1-0 victory at Richmond on Sept. 22.
Duquesne is back to .500 at 5-5-1 on the season, with just four games remaining before the start of the A-10 tournament.
Though mainly in the first half, Duquesne relied heavily on the goalkeeping of sophomore Maddy Neundorfer. She made six saves, marking the third time in the last four contests that she made at least six stops.
Duquesne is currently tied with Davidson for the sixth spot in a conference that invites its top-eight finishers to the conference tournament.
The Dukes will host those Wildcats in what will be each team’s next contest on Sunday afternoon at Rooney Field.
Following Sunday’s battle with Davidson, the Dukes will travel to Loyola of Chicago (Oct. 16) and George Washington (Oct. 23), while welcoming St. Bonaventure to town on Oct. 20.
Loyola currently sits in eighth in the conference standings, while George Washington is ninth and St. Bonaventure occupies the 14th and final spot.