PREVIEW: @DuqMSoccer at St. Bonaventure

Dukes open A-10 Play Saturday in Olean, N.Y.

Duquesne men's soccer, which has been idle since its season opener at No. 4 Pitt on Feb. 27, begins its abbreviated Atlantic 10 schedule at St. Bonaventure on Saturday, March 13 at Noon.

THE SPRING SEASON

The Pitt game (L, 1-0) was the lone nonconference match for the Dukes, who will play six Atlantic 10 games.
DU will face the Bonnies, Dayton and Saint Louis twice as part of the West Division of the A-10. Davidson, George Washington, George Mason and VCU comprise the Central and Fordham, La Salle, UMass, Rhode Island and Saint Joseph's will compete in the North.
The three divisional champions, plus one at-large team will compete for the Atlantic 10 Championship, which will be played on the campus of the highest seed on April 15 & 17.

THE SERIES VS. ST. BONAVENTURE

This is the first meeting between the Dukes and Bonnies since Oct. 5, 2019 (a 4-0 Duquesne win on Rooney Field).
Duquesne leads the overall series 14-8-4, however SBU holds a 5-4-3 lead in matches in Olean, N.Y.
The two have tied (0-0 in 2016) and St. Bonaventure has won (3-2 in 2018) in the past two meetings at SBU.
DU's last win in Olean came on Oct. 12, 2014 (5-0).

LAST GAME

Duquesne held Pitt to a lone penalty kick goal (36') in a 1-0 loss to the Panthers at Pitt's Ambrose Urbanic Field.
It was DU's first match since Nov. 2, 2019 and the first spring match for Pitt which went 7-1 in its fall season.
Freshman Ryan Goodhew led the Dukes with a pair of shots, while Jack Shearer registered DU's lone shot on goal.
The Dukes held the Panthers to just nine shots (five on goal). DU keeper Domenic Nascimben finished with four saves.
Eleven Dukes made their debut vs. Pitt including starters Jaime Borjas, Jacob Benintendi, Tom Tzabari, Ade Akinjogbin, Rodrigo Albayeros and Logan Muck

QUICK HITS

Duquesne is in its eighth season under head coach Chase Brooks. Brooks has led the Dukes to three Atlantic 10 Conference tournament appearances (2013, 2015 & 2016).
The Dukes return three field players who started 10 or more games for last season's 8-8-1 team: senior F Jack Shearer (17/16), junior, D Kendall Newman (12/10) and sophomore M/F /Nate Dragisich (17/16) - a member of the 2019 Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team.
In addition, grad student D/M Ryan Landry, who has played in 46 games with 40 starts, but missed last year due to injury and junior D Eric Zech, who started 16 games as a freshman, but was limited to five games last year due to injury, are also back.
In all, DU returns just seven players from last year's roster and nine players with DU experience including Landry and Zech.
Second-year transfer Shearer led all returnees in career games with 52 (35 at St. John's) and career starts with 42 (26 at SJU) entering the season. Landry (45 games) and Newman (27 games) were the only other returnees who entered the season having played in more than 21 games.
Shearer leads all returnees with eight career goals (team-high five at Duquesne last season). Nate Dragisich (2 goals), Ryan Landry (2 goals) and Eric Zech (1 goal) are the only other returnees who have scored in a DU uniform.
The Dukes have 19 first-year players on the 2020 roster including 13 freshmen (one redshirt) and six transfers in junior F Ade Akinjogbin (Wofford), sophomore M Rodrigo Albayeros (Florida Atlantic), sophomore D Jacob Benintendi (Xavier), junior D Jaime Borjas Rey (Graceland U.), junior M Logan Muck (Evansville) and sophomore D Torge Wittenborg (Ottawa University-Arizona).
Junior Domenic Nascimben is in his first season as the starting goalkeeper. Nascimben, a native of Sydney, Australia, saw action in one game last season. He entered the season having played in six career games (425 career minutes) with four starts.
Duquesne has produced the ninth-most Men's Soccer Academic All-Americas over the past 20 years.
DU has been recognized by the United Soccer Coaches for its outstanding academic performance with a Team Academic Award (minimum 3.0 team GPA) 18 times in the past 21 years. No other Atlantic 10 men's soccer program has been recognized more than Duquesne since the award was instituted in 1996.
Duquesne produced at least one Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team member in six of the past seven years.