Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University women's soccer team picked up its first shutout of the 2024 season Sunday, capping
off a doubleheader at Rooney Field with a 2-0 victory over Bowling Green. The Dukes improved to 2-1 (.667) overall thanks to the win.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS
A stout defensive effort was highlighted by Duquesne not yielding a shot in the first 45 minutes of action from the Falcons. Meanwhile, the offensive exploits during the early portion of the season from junior forward
Margey Brown continued. Fellow classmate
Lindsay Krafchick came down the right wing and placed a perfect ball into the box, and Brown capitalized, slipping it past goalkeeper Madison Vukas at 18:05 to give the Dukes a 1-0 lead.
CLEAN SHEET
The Falcons finally got a shot just over a minute into the second half, but
Maddy Neundorfer made the save as the senior registered her first shutout of the 2024 season and 11th of her career on the Bluff. Bowling Green (0-2) finished with 12 shots in the second half, including five on goal, with Neundorfer turning each away.
QUOTABLE
"We came out, we had a game plan, the kids stuck to it and they played well," head coach
Al Alvine said. "At the end of the day we got the goals that we needed. It's our first clean sheet of the season, so we're happy about that, especially for Maddy. We're scoring a lot of goals right now, and that's a good thing, but we take as much pride in not conceding any goals. To come out today and to keep it at zero was a big accomplishment for us."
MAGIC MUIR
Duquesne kept up the pressure in the second half despite being outshot in the second 45, and junior
Mackenzie Muir was able to give the Dukes some breathing room. She corralled a loose ball out of traffic and scored her first marker of the season at 67:32 to extend the lead for Duquesne to 2-0. It marked the fifth career goal for Muir but the first since her rookie season in 2022. Muir's last goal came at George Washington Oct. 23, 2022, and her tally Sunday marked the first time finding the back of the net during her career at Rooney Field, as each of her previous four goals came on the road.
QUOTABLE
"Given where we are in the season I think we're in a pretty good trajectory," Alvine said. "Certainly there are a few things we want to fine tune, but I think we're in a good spot right now. Organization in the back is good and the communication is getting better all the time. We've spent a lot of time doing combination work, and actually playing the game. That's the hope is that it leads to more people getting involved in the goals, which is great to see."
NOTES
Duquesne evened the all-time series with Bowling Green, 1-1 … Junior
Eva LaVecchia played all 90 minutes for the Dukes to help anchor the defense and is the only field player to log all 270 minutes through three games of the 2024 season … Despite not finishing with a shot in the first half, the Falcons posted more shots (12) than Duquesne (11) … BGSU also held a 5-4 edge in corner kicks … A total of 20 Dukes saw action, with sophomore
Kayla Leseck playing 70 minutes off the bench.
UP NEXT
Duquesne is off until Sunday, Sept. 8, when it hosts Kent State at Rooney Field for a 1:00 p.m. match. The contest serves as Senior Day for the Dukes.
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