PREVIEW: Women's Soccer Begins Two-Game Homestand

PITTSBURGH - The Duquesne University women's soccer team will begin a two-game home stand and look to stay unbeaten in Atlantic 10 action on Thursday night, hosting the George Washington Revolutionaries at Rooney Field.

THE BASICS
October 12, 2023 | 7:00 PM | Rooney Field (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

George Washington Revolutionaries (3-8-3, 0-5-1 A-10)

Streak: L5 | Roster | Stats | Schedule

Duquesne Dukes (5-5-4, 2-0-4 A-10)

Streak: T2 | Roster | Stats | Schedule

GAMEDAY COVERAGE

Watch Live on ESPN+ | Follow Live Stats | Gameday Central

BY THE NUMBERS

THE DUKES

Eight Duquesne Dukes have scored a goal this season and freshman Anna Bundy (2) became the fourth to have multiple scores after the game-winner against Rhode Island on the road, along with Brianna Moore – 5, Maya Matesa - 3, and Jaimi Araujo – 2.
Moore leads the team in goals with five which is good for a six-way tie for fifth in goals in the A-10 and in points with 10 putting her tied for 10th in the A-10 with points.
Six Dukes have four points or more (Moore – 10, Matesa – 7, Morgan Kulniszewski – 4, Anna Bundy – 4, and Araujo – 4, Cami Taylor -- 4) … 14 players have recorded at least one point this season.

Kulniszewski is in a three-way tie for seventh in the A-10 with four assists this season.
Matesa leads the team lead with 28 shots … Five Dukes have taken double-digit shots, of those Moore (58.8%) and Mackenzie Muir (55.6%) have put over half their shots on target.
Goalkeeper Maddy Neundorfer is tied for the A-10 lead with six shutouts while ranking fourth in total saves (61).
Duquesne has scored multiple goals three times this season and won all three matches (5-0 vs. American / 2-0 vs. St. Francis / 2-0 vs. St. Bonaventure).
The Dukes are unbeaten through six Atlantic 10 matches, at 2-0-4 … The first time Duquesne has started off A-10 play undefeated through their first six conference matchups in school history.

Duquesne is 3-1-2 at home this season, including an 0-0-2 mark in conference action.

LAST TIME OUT

The Dukes squared off on the road against St. Joseph's University and a defensive battle from both squads led to a draw at 0.
Duquesne put more pressure throughout the game beating the Hawks in terms of shots 11-to-7 and shots on goal 5-to-3.
Maddy Neundorfer made two saves to keep the clean sheet and get the team's seventh shutout, her sixth of the season.
Eva LaVecchia, Lindsay Krafchick, Karley Steinher and Anna Campanella played all 90 minutes, being an integral part of the defense keeping the Hawks from scoring last matchup.
Brianna Moore had the most pressure on the Hawks firing three shots with one of them going on goal.

THE REVOLUTIONARIES

George Washington is currently on a five-game losing streak, coming off the back of a 2-0 loss to New Jersey Institute of Technology
Forwards Kate McGrath and Kelly Poole lead the Revolutionaries in goals with three and Poole leading the team in points with 9.
Midfielder Aoi Kataoka leads the team in assists with six, which has her in a four-way tie for the A-10 lead in assists.
Isabel Kelly has a flare for the dramatic with two game-winning goals this season against UNC Greensboro on August 27th and against UMBC on September 3rd.
The last win for GW came back against UMBC with the Revolutionaries not winning their last nine matchups.

THE SERIES

Duquesne is 8-12-3 all time against George Washington University.

The last matchup was on the road on October 23, 2022 in which Duquesne lost 1-2 ... Mackenzie Muir scored the lone goal for the Dukes.
The last win Duquesne had against GW was at home in the opening round of the 2017 playoffs winning in double OT, 1-0.
The largest margin of victory against the Revolutionaries 3-0 on October 5, 2007.
The Dukes record in their last 10 matchups against GW is 2-6-2 ... All-time at Rooney Field, DU is 5-6-1 versus the Revolutionaries.

ALL-TIME LEADERBOARD

Graduate student forward Jaimi Araujo moved into a tie for 9th in career goals at DU with Sarah Nicholson (1995-98), with two goals early in the season to bring her career total to 15 in the Red and Blue.

Araujo would move into a four-way tie for 6th place on the all-time leaderboard on her next goal (16) … Lauren Bracco ('00-03), Faye Rasmussen ('04-07), and Morgan Herbert ('09-12) are all currently tied for 6th … The all-time leader at DU is Katie O'Conner (2015-18) with 25.

SINGLE SEASON LEADERBOARD

Sophomore forward Morgan Kulniszewski has four assists this season and her next assist will put her in a tie for seventh most in a single season.
Junior goalkeeper Maddy Neundorfer has six shutouts this season putting her tied for fifth with Devon Tabata, and if she gets another shutout this season she would be tied for second on the single-season leaderboard for shutouts with Kelly O'Neil (1996, 1998) and Kyra Murphy back in 2016.
The Dukes have 16 assists as a team this season and three more assists will put them in 10th place all-time beating out the 2013 Duquesne University women's soccer team.

ASSISTS ALL AROUND

Nine different Dukes have recorded an assist this season … Morgan Kulniszewski leads the team with four assists in 2023.
14 of the Dukes 16 goals have been assisted this season ... Two DU scores have resulted from double assists, as the team has 16 total.
The 16 assists are the fifth-most in the A-10 by a team this season.

RACKING UP THE CLEAN SHEETS

The Dukes recorded their fifth shutout win of the season with its 2-0 win at St. Bonaventure, 1-0 win over Rhode Island, 1-0 defeat of FDU, 2-0 win over Saint Francis, and 5-0 win over American.
Duquesne has kept its opponents off the scoreboard seven times this season … The most since six clean sheets in 2018 … Five of the six shutouts in 2018 were wins, as one ended in a scoreless draw.
Seven shutouts are tied for the most by any A-10 defense this season with Dayton, UMass and Saint Louis ... The 2023 Dukes also are tied for the fifth-most shutouts in program history in a season with the 2015 team ... The program record is nine, set in 2016 ... Eight is shutouts would tie the 1996, 2007, and 2017 teams for second-most in a season.

HOME-OPENING SCORING SPREE

The five goals in DU's home-opening win were the most in a game since Sept. 15, 2019 (a 6-0 win vs. Youngstown State) and the most in a home opener since 2005 (a 7-0 win over Vermont).

The home opener was the third time in the Coach Alvine era (12th season) that Duquesne has scored five or more goals in a game (6-0 win at Saint Francis on Sept. 23, 2016 and the YSU victory in 2019).

BACK ON THE BLUFF

Duquesne returns all but one of their nine goal scorers from last year's squad that reached the first Atlantic 10 postseason tournament since 2019. The 2022 Dukes finished with a 6-7-3 overall and 4-3-3 conference record, bowing out of the A-10 Tournament in the first round (0-2 loss at Davidson).
Duquesne had 20 different players start at least one match last season and returns 15 of them.
Mackenzie Muir and Margey Brown were both named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team a year ago and are back for their sophomore campaigns.

Maddy Neundorfer returns for her junior season in net for DU. Neundorfer ranked second in the Atlantic 10 in saves (96) and saves per game (6.0) in 2022, starting all 16 games.

NEWCOMERS RIGHT IN THE MIX

Coach Alvine brought in a talented recruiting class of 11 new players to bolster the long list of returners.
Anna Campanella, a graduate transfer that spent time at Kent State and the past three seasons at Boise State, earned a season-opening start at Ohio, alongside freshman Jayden Sharpless, a transfer from Georgia State, are a pair of newcomers that have started every game so far this season.

SISTER, SISTER

The Dukes roster includes three sets of sisters this season. Kayla and her twin sister Skylar Leseck are freshman from Moon Township, Pa., Anna (freshman) and Emma Bundy (junior) from Wexford, Pa., and Anna (graduate student) and Ally Campanella (junior) from Hudson, Ohio.
Twins Kayla and Skylar Leseck are one of 16 twins playing Division I soccer this season … Kayla netted her first career goal late in the second half of the home-opening win over American.

WINNINGEST COACH IN PROGRAM HISTORY

Duquesne is led by 12th year head coach Al Alvine.
Alvine is the winningest coach in program history with an 80-95-29 overall record on the Bluff and a 41-51-17 mark in Atlantic 10 play.

Alvine doubled the Dukes win total from 2011 in his first season. He has led DU to five A-10 Tournament appearances. In 2015, he coached the Dukes to their first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance

PRESEASON POLL

Duquesne was picked to finish seventh in the 15-team Atlantic 10 Conference, its highest preseason rank since 2018.
Defending regular season and tournament champion, St. Louis is expected to repeat grabbing 14 of the 15 first-place votes.

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