Noah Fries | sports editor

The Duquesne women’s soccer team wasted no time sending a message in its home opener Thursday, with two goals in the first 15 minutes being all that it needed to take down Akron. The Zips failed to register a tally, making the final score 2-0.

The win brought the Dukes back to .500 (2-2-0), while the Zips took their first loss of the 2026 campaign. It was the Dukes’ sixth consecutive home-opener victory, dating back to the 2021 season.

Duquesne was clicking from the opening kick, with the field feeling tilted in the Dukes’ favor early on. In the 12th minute, senior midfielder Kayla Leseck fed a pass inside the box to sophomore forward Brynn Ramsey, who collected the feed and made a defender miss before sending a left-footed shot into the low-left corner — just past sprawling Zips senior goalkeeper Sara Bower.

The tally was the first of Ramsey’s young career. The assist from Leseck was the 11th of her career, moving her into a tie for seventh in program history — with the most notable person tied being her former teammate, Maya Matesa (2022-2025).

Head Coach Jessica Giegucz had a lot of praise for Leseck, who had two shots of her own, after the game.

“(Kayla) is one of the most versatile players I’ve ever coached,” Giegucz said. “She’s been named an unsung hero before, and there’s a reason for it. She plays a very selfless game.”

Three-and-a-half minutes later, the Dukes were able to find the back of the net once more. Collecting a pass from senior midfielder Anna Bundy, senior forward Kaitlyn Killinger drove past the Zips defender and unleashed a left-footed shot from the left side of the box into the low-right corner — almost a perfect mirror image of Ramsey’s goal.

The goal was Killinger’s first of the year and fifth of her career. Killinger started all 19 games for Duquesne last season after transferring from the University of Pittsburgh.

“They were just beautiful strikes,” Giegucz said, referring to both goals. “I actually loved that they were both left-footed — one from the right side and one from the left side. It’s the type of stuff that we work on, and I love to see when they have success with it.”

Akron, however, wouldn’t go away without a fight. In the 24th minute, a header from freshman forward Holly Skipper just grazed the crossbar and stayed out of the net.

The Zips would take an 8-5 shot advantage into halftime but found themselves down by two on the scoreboard.

The second half was more of the same, just with even more pressure from the Zips. As they desperately scrambled late in the game for a tally that would cut the lead in half, Dukes senior goalkeeper Ali Hughes came up with several big saves that would prevent Akron from swinging the momentum into its favor.

Hughes’ seven saves tied her career high for the second consecutive game — also recording seven saves in the match against West Virginia in Morgantown Aug. 23. It was also Hughes’ second clean sheet of the campaign, shutting out Cleveland State 3-0 Aug. 20.

“The full defensive effort is really great,” Giegucz said. “Ali [Hughes] is just absolutely amazing vocally. She manages a lot of things from happening before they happen, which is great.”

Despite being outshot 16-9 total and 7-6 in shots on target, Duquesne excelled — as it has early throughout the season — in shot percentage on frame. Giegucz noted that she loves having a high percentage and preaches that mentality to her squad.

“Our shot percentage right now is close to 60% or higher,” Giegucz said. “Our conversion rate is quite high as well. I’d like to see them create more chances so then we don’t have to rely on such a high percentage, but I’m thrilled with what they’re doing on the attacking side of things.”

On Sunday, the Dukes were back in action at home against Kent State.Killinger was once again the star, as she buried a shot in the sixth minute on a feed from senior midfielder Jayden Sharpless. The goal would be the only tally required to defeat the Golden Flashes 1-0 and push the Dukes back above .500 (3-2-0).

Hughes put up yet another clean sheet, leading to her selection as Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week. She recorded 16 saves during the week and is tied for 14th in Division I in total saves with 30.

Duquesne will be back in action Thursday at 1 p.m. against Toledo to wrap up the three-game homestand.

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu