PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne women's soccer team built a four-goal lead, and was able to weather a late St. Bonaventure surge, as the Dukes (5-7-2, 4-5 A10) topped the Bonnies (6-10-2, 2-6-1 A10), 4-2, on Thursday night at Rooney Field.

The win improved Duquesne's chances of qualifying for the Atlantic 10 Championships, as the Dukes enter Sunday's contest against Rhode Island with 12 points in the standings. After Thursday's slate of matches, Duquesne stands in seventh place in the conference with a 4-5 record. The top-eight teams qualify for the Atlantic 10 Championships, with the top-four seeds hosting seeds five through eight. A win against Rhode Island would guarantee a spot for the Dukes to the A-10 tournament.   

Deena DeBaldo registered her ninth goal of the campaign to kick off the scoring for the Dukes, capitalizing on a pass from Hannah Nguyen in the 10th minute. DeBaldo would be credited with an assist less than eight minutes later, as Jaimi Araujo connected on her fourth goal of the season off a rebound, to give the Dukes a 2-0 lead in the 17th minute.

Less than four minutes into the second half Nguyen recorded her first goal of the season, as she connected on a pass from Araujo in the 49th minute. Alex Saturni's third goal of 2019 came next, as Brooke Schutter found her sophomore classmate in the 60th minute.   

The Bonnies struck for goals from Bella Marra in the 70th minute and Isabelle LaBarbera in the 77th minute Bella May assisted both goals for the Bonnies. St. Bonaventure had a goal waived off late in the contest, and had other opportunities to score, but the Dukes ultimately held on to win 4-2.

The Dukes look to clinch a spot in the A-10 Championships with a victory at Rhode Island (4-9-4, 1-6-2 A10) on Sunday. The contest is set for a 1:00 p.m. start.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• 10' | Nguyen centered a cross to DeBaldo, who one-timed a shot over the head of the Bonnies' goalkeeper. DeBaldo's goal was the ninth of the season. She is one goal away from tying the Duquesne single-season record.
• 17' | DeBaldo received a centering pass in transition and dribbled towards the goal. She sent a shot that initially saved the goalkeeper, but the shot would head directly to Araujo, who slid the ball into the open net for her fourth score of the season.  
• 49' | Nguyen found the back of the net for the first time this season in the 49th minute, as Araujo passed left to Nguyen. Nguyen gathered possession and eventually took a shot with her left foot that found the bottom right corner of the net.
• 60' | Saturni passed to Schutter, who immediately pass back to Saturni to the left-side of the box. Staurni rocketd a shot to the lower right corner to give the Dukes a commanding four-goal advantage.  
• 70' | The Bonnies got on the scoreboard with 20 minutes left in contest. May sent a pass towards the net, which evaded multiple Duquesne defenders. With Virgin closing in on the ball, Marra was able to get to the ball first and took a sliding shot that trickled into the net.
• 77' |  Off a free kick, Marra sent a pass that would be deflected by Virgin, as Isabelle LaBarbera was able to gain possession and connect on the final goal of the game.
• Duquesne led 20-16 on shots and 10-8 on shots on goal.
• Both goalkeepers registered six saves, as Megan Virgin earned her sixth win of the season.
• The Bonnies led 5-3 on corner kicks.
• Overall, Duquesne led in possession by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin.

DUQUESNE HEAD COACH AL ALVINE
"Overall, I'm happy with how we played. I thought we dominated the first 60 minutes of the game. We scored some great goals. We didn't concede a lot of chances. They (St. Bonaventure) made things interesting at the end, but at this time in the year, the only thing matters is the result and we earned three points. We have given ourselves a chance to get another three points on Sunday to make a push for the tournament. We just have to get everyone recovered tomorrow and we'll hit the road Saturday and try to do it all over again on Sunday.