PITTSBURGH – The No. 25 Duquesne men's soccer team defeated the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, 5-1, Wednesday night at Rooney Field.
The win improves Duquesne's record to (9-1-3, 3-0-2) while St. Bonaventure falls to (3-8-2, 0-4-1).
In a non-conference match between conference opponents, the Dukes' offense came to play and lit up the scoreboard in the first half.
Freshman midfielder
Ask Ekeland scored his team-leading fifth and sixth goals, including the game-winner in the 30
th-minute.
Sophomore forward
Maxi Hopfer notched his third goal of the season and tacked on two assists. His first assist came on Ekeland's second goal and his second came shortly after on sophomore defender
Christoffer Vie Angell's third goal of the year.
Sophomore midfielder
Tom Tzabari added his second goal of the campaign with a one-timer from just outside the box off a corner. Sophomore defender
Jack Emanuel tallied the assist on that goal.
Graduate goalkeeper
Domenic Nascimben recorded four saves in the win.
The game was fast-paced from the start, with both teams getting multiple high-quality chances early on. Nascimben had to make a couple of ridiculous saves to keep the Dukes in it early, and Duquesne put a few shots just wide of the net in an up-tempo opening half.
Ekeland's goal in the 30
th-minute gave the Dukes the lead, but a St. Bonaventure goal in the 25
th-minute tied things up. From there on out, it was all Duquesne.
Vie Angell and Tzabari's goals came within 10 minutes of Ekeland's second goal and gave the home squad a commanding 4-1 lead. The Dukes would carry that lead into halftime.
In the second half, Hopfer's goal was the only damage done by either side as Duquesne cruised to a non-conference victory over its conference foe.
GAME NOTES
- The Dukes are now undefeated in their past 13 home games (11-0-2, 4-0-1 this year).
- Duquesne's 22 shots set a new season high. The previous high was 20 against Canisius on Aug. 28. The Dukes' nine shots on goal tied a season high, which was also set against Canisius.
- Ekeland is the only Duke to score two goals in a game this year. He did it one other time – in Duquesne's 7-0 win against Howard on Sept. 10.
- Ekeland's second goal marked his third game-winning goal of the season, which makes him the co-leader in the A-10 in that category.
- This was Hopfer's first game of the season and second of his career that he's recorded multiple assists in a game.
- Junior forward Nate Dragisich recorded an assist on Hopfer's goal giving him a team-leading seven helpers on the year, which ranks second in the conference.
