Nov. 10, 2003

The Duquesne University men's soccer team climbed from 21st to 17th the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in the NSCAA/adidas Top 25 poll and are tied for first in the NSCAA Middle Atlantic Region rankings. Both rankings are all-time bests in the program's nine-year history. The Red and Blue are the only Atlantic 10 team in the top 25 and are tied with 14th-ranked Fairleigh Dickinson in the regional rankings.

The Dukes (13-3-2, 8-2-1) won their regular season finale on Saturday at St. Bonaventure, 2-1 and finished as the Atlantic 10 regular season Co-Champions. Duquesne and Richmond finished tied for the top spot in the A-10 with 25 points and tied each other 1-1 during the regular season at Richmond. Duquesne enters the Atlantic 10 Championship as the two seed with a first round bye and will face the highest remaining seed of Thursday's games on Friday at 7:30 pm at Richmond. Duquesne lost a tiebreaker to Richmond based on results versus Temple, the three seed.

Senior forward Damien Pottinger (Scarborough, Ontario/Mother Teresa) leads the Dukes in scoring with 12 goals and four assists for 28 points while sophomore forward Steve Mellor (Langhorne, PA/Neshaminy (Appalachian State) is next with 20 points on eight goals (including a team-best five game-winning goals) and four assists. Freshman goalkeeper Zach Varga (Mountville, PA/Hempfield) leads the Atlantic 10 Conference with a 0.73 goals against average and has posted six shutouts.