Arlene Gonzalez | staff writer

The Duquesne women’s soccer team rebounded from a 1-0 loss at Richmond on Thursday to open up Atlantic 10 Conference play with a solid 2-0 victory on Sunday vs. Davidson.

For the first time all season, the Dukes were denied a goal in Richmond, as none of their 11 shots found their way past Spiders keeper McKenna Dalfonso. Her Duquesne counterpart Maddy Neundorfer wasn’t as lucky, as just 10 minutes in Brigitte Bussiere rocketed a shot off the crossbar and a failed clear allowed Kiley Fitzgerald to bury the rebound for the game’s only score. Richmond’s defense stifled Duquesne in the second half, and the Dukes went back to Pittsburgh with their five-game winning streak snapped.
They’d return to form on Sunday when faced with Davidson. In the first half, both teams had a difficult time getting used to each other and struggled to find effective strategies and rotations. The first quarter ended scoreless, with multiple missed chances from both teams. In particular, Duquesne couldn’t convert on any of their five corner kicks.

Mackenzie Muir would break the tie in the 50th minute for the Dukes, with assistance from Brianna Moore and Maya Matesa. It was Muir’s fourth goal of the season, and it would be enough to put the Dukes in front for good.

“The biggest highlight was after the second half, when we changed formation to a 4-3-1-2, and that’s what helped us to go to goal,” Matesa said. The change in formation seemed to be the catalyst for Duquesne, as it was much more aggressive in the second half and found the back of the net a second time, as well as being much more sound defensively.

Moore struck with an assist from Muir in the 62nd minute, banking a shot in off the left post to score her eighth goal, tying Margey Brown for the team lead.

“[We] picked up the pace of the game, and as a result we were able to score two goals,” Moore said.

Moore and Brown’s furious goalscoring pace has led them on track to not only achieve, but smash what has only been done once before in team history, two teammates scoring 20 points in the same season. Brown has already gotten there with eight goals in four assists, Moore is close behind with her own eight goals and two assists. The feat hasn’t been accomplished by Duquesne in 20 years, when in 2004 Audra Mathews recorded 27 points and Katie Schwager tallied 23.

The insurance goal would be more than enough to keep the Dukes in the driver’s seat for the rest of the games, as their strong defense limited the Wildcats to just one shot on goal in the final 28 minutes. Neundorfer only had to make four saves en route to her third shutout of the season and 13th overall, putting her at a tie for third all-time in a Duquesne uniform. The win also marked Duquesne’s fifth win in five tries at Rooney Field, a mark that bests their 2018 start when they won four games and drew one at home.

The Dukes will try and continue that streak for another two games, first on Thursday at 7 p.m. against Rhode Island and Sunday at 1 p.m. against Dayton.