PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne University women’s soccer team is set to host Saint Francis on Sunday afternoon at Rooney Field. The Dukes will honor their senior class prior to the start of the game for Senior Day.
THE BASICS
September 3, 2023 | 1:00 PM | Rooney Field (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Duquesne Dukes (1-4, 0-0 A-10)
Saint Francis University Red Flash (0-5, 0-0 Northeast)
Watch Live on ESPN+ | Follow Live Stats | Gameday Central
BY THE NUMBERS
THE DUKES
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Duquesne enters the matchup on a three-game skid after dominating its home opener, 5-0 against American.
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Jaimi Araujo scored in the opening six minutes of games two and three this season … She is tied for the team lead in goals with Maya Matesa, who netted back-to-back scores in the win over American … Five Dukes have scored a goal this season.
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Matesa leads the team with five points.
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Sophomore midfielder Mackenzie Muir leads the team with 11 shots and has taken eight over the last three games, putting six on target.
LAST TIME OUT
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The Dukes lost a tough game last time out, 6-1, to No. 21 University of Pittsburgh on the road at Ambrose Urbanic Field.
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Cami Taylor scored the lone goal for Duquesne off a corner with the assist coming from Brooke Kirstein for their respective first goal and assist of the season.
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Morgan Kulniszewski led the team in shots in the last match with two, one of which went on target.
THE RED FLASH
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Saint Francis University, members of the Northeast Conference, has yet to get in the win column this season starting the year on a five-game losing streak.
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Last time out the Red Flash lost 4-1 to the University of Delaware.
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Lauren Persichetty (Staten Island, N.Y.) scored her first goal of the season and ties as the team leader with goals this season with one.
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The Red Flash had their season high in shots last game with eight bringing some offensive pressure to the Blue Hens.
THE SERIES
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Duquesne is 13-7-1 all-time against Saint Francis … The Dukes have won their last six outings against the Red Flash.
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The last Duquesne win over Saint Francis was a 3-1 win back on 08/22/2021.
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DU during that six-game winning streak has held Saint Francis to just one goal (came in the last meeting) … The Dukes have outscored SFU 17-1 since 2013 … The win streak dates to a 2-0 loss in 2012 at SFU.
SENIOR DAY
ALL-TIME LEADERBOARD
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Graduate student forward Jaimi Araujo moved into a tie for 9th in career goals at DU with Sarah Nicholson (1995-98), with her second goal of the season last time out to bring her career total to 15 in the Red and Blue.
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Araujo would move into a four-way tie for 6th place on the all-time leaderboard on her next goal (16) … Lauren Bracco (’00-03), Faye Rasmussen (’04-07), and Morgan Herbert (’09-12) are all currently tied for 6th … The all-time leader at DU is Katie O’Conner (2015-18) with 25.
ASSISTS ALL AROUND
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Mackenzie Muir and Brooke Kirstein lead the team with two assists … Six different Dukes have recorded an assist this season.
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Two DU scores this season have resulted from double assists.
USING THE DEPTH
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Duquesne has had 21 or more players see action in each of its first four games … An early season most, 28, played in the home opener vs. American (5-0 win) … 25 played in the season opener at Ohio (3-0 loss) … 22 played in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Youngstown State … 21 played at WVU … 26 played at Pitt on Thursday.
HOME-OPENING SCORING SPREE
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The home opener was the third time in the Coach Alvine era (12th season) that Duquesne has scored five or more goals in a game (6-0 win at Saint Francis on Sept. 23, 2016 and the YSU victory in 2019).
SHUTOUT VICTORY
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DU tied their shutout win total from last season already after posting one shutout victory in 2022, a 1-0 win at Richmond.
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The Dukes last had multiple shutout wins in a season in the 2021 spring season with three.
BACK ON THE BLUFF
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Duquesne returns all but one of their nine goal scorers from last year’s squad that reached the first Atlantic 10 postseason tournament since 2019. The 2022 Dukes finished with a 6-7-3 overall and 4-3-3 conference record, bowing out of the A-10 Tournament in the first round (0-2 loss at Davidson).
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Duquesne had 20 different players start at least one match last season and returns 15 of them.
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Mackenzie Muir and Margey Brown were both named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team a year ago and are back for their sophomore campaigns.
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Maddy Neundorfer returns for her junior season in net for DU. Neundorfer ranked second in the Atlantic 10 in saves (96) and saves per game (6.0) in 2022, starting all 16 games. The Monroeville, Pa. played all 90 minutes between the posts in the season opener on Thursday and made five saves.
NEWCOMERS RIGHT IN THE MIX
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Coach Alvine brought in a talented recruiting class of 11 new players to bolster the long list of returners.
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Anna Campanella, a graduate transfer that spent time at Kent State and the past three seasons at Boise State, earned a season-opening start at Ohio, alongside freshman Jaydn Sharpless, a transfer from Georgia State, are a pair of newcomers that have started every game so far this season.
SISTER, SISTER
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The Dukes roster includes three sets of sisters this season. Kayla and her twin sister Skylar Leseck are freshman from Moon Township, Pa., Anna (freshman) and Emma Bundy (junior) from Wexford, Pa., and Anna (graduate student) and Ally Campanella (junior) from Hudson, Ohio.
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Twins Kayla and Skylar Leseck are one of 16 twins playing Division I soccer this season … Kayla netted her first career goal late in the second half of the home-opening win over American.
WINNINGEST COACH IN PROGRAM HISTORY
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Duquesne is led by 12th year head coach Al Alvine.
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Alvine is the winningest coach in program history with a 76-94-25 overall record on the Bluff and a 39-51-13 mark in Atlantic 10 play.
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Alvine doubled the Dukes win total from 2011 in his first season. He has led DU to five A-10 Tournament appearances. In 2015, he coached the Dukes to their first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance
PRESEASON POLL
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Duquesne was picked to finish seventh in the 15-team Atlantic 10 Conference, its highest preseason rank since 2018.
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Defending regular season and tournament champion, St. Louis is expected to repeat grabbing 14 of the 15 first-place votes.
UP NEXT
FOLLOW THE DUKES
For the latest news and updates for Duquesne women’s soccer, follow @DuqWSoccer on Twitter and Instagram.
