Michael O’Grady | sports editor |

After seven games, everything was going well for Duquesne women’s soccer. It was 6-1, a perfect five-for-five at Rooney Field and its only defeat a one-goal loss to No. 7 Pitt. Brianna Moore and Margey Brown were taking turns filling out the scoresheet at a videogame pace.

The start of the Atlantic 10 Conference schedule on Sept. 19 changed that. Since then, Duquesne is 2-4 and has lost its last three games, including two at Rooney, having been outscored 10-2. This week, it lost 3-1 to Fordham Thursday night in the Bronx and then returned to Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon, only to suffer a 5-0 loss to Saint Louis that punctuated the issues with the team at the moment.

“We make critical errors at bad times,” Duquesne Coach Dave Gray said. “This has been a little bit of a pattern for us in the past couple of games where we’ve had these breakdowns.”

The breakdowns referenced are Duquesne’s recent tendency to let up bunches of goals in short amounts of time. It started last week versus Dayton when the Flyers scored twice in three minutes, and continued at Fordham when the Rams’ Ryann Lucas struck twice in five minutes early on. The Dukes attempted to respond for most of the first half’s remainder, but were hemmed in again late in the half and let up another goal, this time to Julia Acosta off an indirect set-piece.

Both teams took a barrage of shots in the second half, Duquesne 12 to Fordham’s 11, but despite keeping the Rams scoreless, the Dukes were only able to get one back, a headed corner from Maya Matesa. Mackenzie Muir had some chances to further fight back in the final stages, but Duquesne went back over the Hudson having lost by two, by then its largest defeat of the season.

Saint Louis tore through that mark Sunday by winning 5-0 at Rooney Field, a replica of last year’s A-10 playoff semifinal. It was Duquesne’s worst home loss since 2007, and the pattern of letting up multiple goals in short timeframes continued. Not only did Saint Louis match Dayton by scoring twice in three minutes, it added a third less than five minutes later. Down in a 3-0 hole early, Duquesne never seriously showed signs of coming back or even scoring. The Dukes took two shots on goal all game.

The Billikens’ Emily Gaebe wasted no time in getting her team on the scoreboard by going on a long dribble and putting a smooth finish at the right post just six minutes in; a perfect pass from Lyndsey Heckel prompted her to unleash a bullet into the upper right corner just 2:57 later. With the second goal, Gaebe became the all-time leader in the category for Saint Louis.

Several minutes later, Duquesne keeper Maddy Neundorfer shoved Heckel before going up for a 50/50 ball in what was described as a “dumb foul” by Gray. Heckel beat Neundorfer on the ensuing penalty, and Duquesne spent the rest of the game out of whack. After a third Gaebe goal in the second half, both teams put on subs, and Jordan Gary scored in the 85th minute to bring the final to 5-0.

“We gotta get back to basics,” Gray said. “We just gotta get back to what we do well and get behind the ball. We’ve gotta defend first and play second. I think we’ve lost some of that confidence in these last three games and we’ve lost to three really good teams, there’s no secret in that. But we’re a really good team too and it just hasn’t showed the past three games.

Duquesne has four games left before the A-10 playoffs to right the ship. On Saturday in Philadelphia at an unusual noon start time, it will take on La Salle in the first of a two-game road trip before coming back for its last home game on Oct. 24 versus Saint Joseph’s.