PREVIEW: Duquesne Battles Loyola Chicago for the First Time Ever

CHICAGO, Ill. – The Duquesne women's soccer team takes its first-ever trip to Loyola Chicago this Sunday for an important late-season A-10 match at 2:00 P.M. ET.

The game will be available to stream on ESPN+ and live stats will be available.

SERIES BREAKDOWN

All-Time Series: Duquesne has never played Loyola Chicago.
First Meeting: Never
Last Meeting: Never
Streak: N/A

QUICK HITS

Duquesne is 3-2-2 in conference play and has an overall record of 5-5-2.
The Dukes only played once last week and ended up tying with Davidson 1-1 at home on Sunday. Duquesne is tied for sixth-place in the conference.
Junior forward Jaimi Araujo scored the Dukes' lone goal against the Wildcats. She leads the team with five goals and 11 points. Both those numbers rank ninth in the A-10.
Araujo was named the A-10 Co-Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 19.
Freshman midfielder Mackenzie Muir scored her second goal of the season at Richmond Sept. 22 and the game-winner on Oct. 2 at La Salle. All three of her goals this year have been game-winning goals.
The Sept. 15 win against URI was a thriller. Araujo scored two goals while freshman forward Brianna Moore notched her first career goal.
Duquesne's first two wins this season were comeback wins, with the first one coming against Ohio in the Dukes' season opener Aug. 18 and the other coming at Youngstown State Aug. 25.
Freshman forward Maya Matesa was named A-10 Rookie of the Week Aug. 22 for her performance in the first two games of the season. She has two goals this year.
It is believed that Duquesne has more true freshmen on its team than any other D-I team in the nation with 17.
The Dukes have 12 players that have recorded a point so far through 12 games. Seven of those players have been freshmen.
Sophomore goalkeeper Maddy Neundorfer has recorded the third-most saves in the A-10 so far with 73. She has made at least five saves in 10 out of 12 matches this year. Her 12 saves against Rhode Island were a career high and she recorded her first career shutout against Richmond Sept. 22.
Sophomore forward Emma Bundy led the team and ranked third in the A-10 with 1.33 points per game and 0.556 goals per game despite playing just nine games due to injury. She recorded her first point in over a year with her assists against Davidson.
Senior defender Ashley Rodriguez started all 16 games last year and tallied the most minutes on the team with 1,483. She scored on two penalty kicks in 2021. She has played the full 90 minutes for eight-straight games and 10 times overall.
Duquesne was picked to finish in 10th place by the league's coaches, tied with George Washington, in the annual Atlantic 10 women's soccer preseason poll.

DUQUESNE HEAD COACH AL ALVINE (Robert Morris '92)

Al Alvine is in his 11^th season as the head coach of the Dukes in 2022.
The Dukes' all-time winningest coach boasts a record of 75-87-24 on the Bluff and 38-50-12 in Atlantic 10 play. His career mark stands at 205-151-42.
Alvine inherited a three-win team prior to the 2012 season and quadrupled that total in four years.
He set a program record with 12 victories in 2015 – which included the program's first-ever A-10 Championship and NCAA Tournament bid.
His teams have totaled 11 or more wins three times during his tenure.
Alvine has coached four First-Team and three Second-Team All-Atlantic 10 picks, including 2017 A-10 Midfielder of the Year Linnea Faccenda.
He was named the fifth head coach in Duquesne women's soccer history on December 29, 2011.
Alvine came to the Bluff after spending five seasons as head coach at California University of Pennsylvania, where he went 72-28-11 – including a 38-2-6 mark over his final two seasons with the Vulcans.

SCOUTING THE RAMBLERS (ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS)

Loyola Chicago is 6-7-2 overall and 2-5 in A-10 play. It has lost four-straight 1-0 matches.
The Ramblers are sitting in 13^th-place in the conference.
Loyola has a 0.60 goal margin, which ranks fifth in the conference, but it just hasn't been able to come away with wins lately.
The Ramblers have not scored a goal since Sept. 25 at George Washington.
Senior forward Megan Nemec leads the team with four goals and 11 points this season.
Graduate student goalkeeper Naya Lipkens has the fifth-lowest goals against average in the conference at 0.87.
Loyola is in its first season as a member of the Atlantic 10 conference.
Barry Bimbi is in his 12^th season as the head coach of the Ramblers.