Nicholas Fernbaugh | staff writer

Duquesne women’s soccer played two straight matches on home turf last week, as they first defeated Rhode Island on Thursday night, 1-0, and then lost to Dayton, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon.

Duquesne was looking to extend their five-game winning streak at Rooney Field to six when they took the field against Rhode Island.

“I mean, our entire saying this season is that we don’t lose at home, and so far, we have not lost at home,” Mackenzie Muir said postgame. “And so that’s just kind of our mantra this season. That Rooney Field is our field.”

The lone goal of the first contest resulted from a long lob to the left wing as junior forward Margey Brown charged toward the box, before being tripped by Rams goalkeeper Abigail McCarthy. McCarthy’s challenge got her a yellow card, while Duquesne was awarded a penalty.

“I think before the goal, Margey obviously had gotten called for a couple of fouls, but she continued to be stubborn and run on her line.” Muir said.

Muir stepped to the spot to tuck away the penalty kick, as she fired her shot away in the bottom-right corner to give the Dukes the lead in the 68th minute. The goal was Muir’s fourth of the season, tying her career-high.

“It was personal,” Muir said. “I was like, there’s no way I’m not nailing this in. And once I did, I may have said a couple of words after, but I mean, it was all good.”

Things had been tight in the first half as Duquesne led the Rams in shots 4-2, but the pressure stayed around the same on both sides as the final pass was eluding the Dukes until the penalty.

“I thought we did well in the first half,” Duquesne Coach Dave Gray said, “but I thought we struggled to make the right connections. We talked about at halftime, like keeping our feet moving more, not passing so stagnant, getting our feet moving more. I thought we did a better job being more active once we got the ball in the attacking third in the second half.”

The Dukes came out better in the second half, winning the shot battle 9-7 as they held more of the control in the middle of the field. Their aggressiveness led to the penalty.

“I think sometimes it gets when you carry some possession, it becomes a situation where you get a little comfortable,” Gray said. “And we wanted them to be a little more uncomfortable in the second half and take some chances and take some risks. And I thought they did a good job of that.”

Goalkeeper Maddy Neundorfer made two saves to get her fourth shutout of the season, as the Dukes secured the win and turned their attention to Sunday against Dayton, where they tried to turn six-straight into seven at Rooney.

The match did not start well, as it was tough sledding from the opening kickoff. The Dukes had a hard time getting consistent pressure, and ended up getting outshot 18-10 on the day.

The problems for Duquesne came on two Dayton corners within three minutes, as defender Kyra Karfonta and forward Noel Blain both scored to put the Flyers up 2-0 going into halftime.

Neundorfer’s four saves kept the game close, but the Dukes continued their with the final pass in front of the goal from Thursday, and weren’t able to score until the 84th minute. Forward Hailey Longwell was able to tuck a goal away under Flyer keeper Batoul Reda to cut the lead in half.

Duquesne had one final chance with a long free kick as Muir stepped up to fire a shot, but it deflected off Maya Matesa and went wide.

With the loss, the Dukes’ home winning streak to start the year was snapped at six. It was their first loss at Rooney Field since they dropped their penultimate home game last year against La Salle, 4-1, on Oct. 15.

Duquesne is currently 2-2 through play in the Atlantic 10 Conference and 8-3 overall as they look to bounce back in the Bronx when they take on Fordham Thursday night, before a chance to start a new win streak at Rooney Field with a Sunday afternoon tilt with Saint Louis.