PREVIEW: Women's Soccer Travels to St. Bonaventure

PITTSBURGH - In a battle of unbeaten squads in Atlantic 10 action, the Duquesne University women's soccer team travels north to take on St. Bonaventure on Sunday afternoon.

THE BASICS

September 24, 2023 | 1:00 PM | Tom 80' and Michelle Marra Athletics Field Complex (St. Bonaventure, NY)

Duquesne Dukes (4-5-2, 1-0-2 A-10)

Streak: W1 | Roster | Stats | Schedule

St. Bonaventure Bonnies (3-2-5, 2-0-1 A-10)

Streak: W2 | Roster | Stats | Schedule

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

BY THE NUMBERS

Stats Comparison - WSOC 9-24-2023 vs. St. Bonaventure

THE DUKES

Seven Duquesne Dukes have scored a goal this season and freshman Anna Bundy (2) became the fourth to have multiple scores after the game-winner on Thursday, along with Maya Matesa - 3, Brianna Moore – 3, and Jaimi Araujo – 2.
Matesa leads the team in points with seven points.

Five Dukes have four points or more (Matesa – 7, Moore – 6, Morgan Kulniszewski – 4, Anna Bundy – 4, and Araujo – 4) … 14 players have recorded at least one point this season.
Kulniszewski is in a three-way tie for fifth in the A-10 with four assists this season.
Matesa also leads the team lead with 22 shots … Five Dukes have taken double-digit shots, of those Moore (58.3%) and Mackenzie Muir (57.1%) have put over half their shots on target.
Goalkeeper Maddy Neundorfer is tied for the A-10 lead with four shutouts, while ranking second in total saves (52).
Duquesne has scored multiple goals twice this season and won both matches (5-0 vs. American / 2-0 vs. St. Francis).
The Dukes are unbeaten through three Atlantic 10 matches, at 1-0-2 … The last time Duquesne began A-10 play without a loss through four games was 2016, when DU started 5-0 in A-10 play.
Thursday's win at URI was the first road victory of the season for the Dukes, improving to 1-4-1 away from Rooney Field.

LAST TIME OUT

In a game destined for a third straight tie to start conference play, Duquesne persevered with an 84th minute goal to capture its first win of the Atlantic 10 season (1-0-2) on Thursday at Rhode Island.
Margey Brown fielded a long ball from Jayden Sharpless, made a move on a defender, and placed a perfect pass to a wide-open Anna Bundy in the box, who tapped in the goal as the game clock neared five minutes remaining.
Maddy Neundorfer recorded her second straight shutout and fourth of the season with a six-save effort between the posts.
DU was outshot 19-6 and 6-3 on goal, but strong defense kept them in the game, and they took advantage of a late opportunity to secure three points for the first time in A-10 play … Four different Dukes accounted for the six shots, while Brown and Karley Steinher charted a team-high two each with one on target.

THE BONNIES

St. Bonaventure enters the matchup on a two-game win streak, defeating Davidson 1-0 and Fordham 3-1.
The Bonnies are also unbeaten in A-10 play at 2-0-1, charting a conference-opening tie, 0-0, against Dayton at home.
SBU is 1-1-3 on its home field this season.
Ami Komori, a sophomore forward, doubled her scoring total this season last game with a hat trick against Fordham and now leads the A-10 ith six goals.
Four players have accounted for the Bonnies 12 goals this season … 11 of the 12 have been assisted on, with one secondary assist for a total of 12 team assists.
Sophomore forward Olivia Allen leads the team with four assists and is second in goals with three.
The Bonnies have shutout three opponents, two of the shutouts were credited to starting keeper Chaiara Gottinger … Gottinger leads the conference with 55 saves and an average of 6.11 stops per game … Gottinger is the reigning A-10 Defensive Player of the Week.
SBU is in its first season under head coach Donny George … 18 players return from 2022's roster, while eight newcomers joined the program this season.
The Bonnies were picked to finish 15th of 15 in the Atlantic 10 Preseason Coaches' Poll.

THE SERIES

Duquesne is 18-10 all-time against St. Bonaventure, the most wins against any opponent in program history.

The Dukes have won five of the last six meetings dating to 2019, including a 2-1 decision last year at Rooney Field … Margey Brown and Brooke Kirstein had the two scores to lead DU to victory a year ago.
Duquesne is 6-7 on the road against St. Bonaventure … Two of the last three meetings in Olean, NY have been won by the Dukes, however a 2-1 final in favor of the Bonnies occurred in the most recent matchup up north on October 24, 2021.
The teams have not played in September since 2004 … Duquesne is 4-3 when facing St. Bonaventure in September (1998-2004).

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.

ASSISTS ALL AROUND

Nine different Dukes have recorded an assist this season … Morgan Kulniszewski leads the team with four assists in 2023.

12 of the Dukes 13 goals have been assisted this season with the only unassisted score being the first goal of the season by Jaimi Araujo in the 5-0 home-opening win over American ... Two DU scores have resulted from double assists, as the team has 14 total.
The 14 assists are the fourth-most in the A-10 by a team this season.

SHUTOUTS

The Dukes recorded their fourth shutout win of the season with its 1-0 win at Rhode Island, 1-0 defeat of FDU, 2-0 win over Saint Francis, and 5-0 win over American … DU last had three shutout victories in the 2021 spring season.
Duquesne has kept its opponents off the scoreboard five 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.
Five shutouts is tied for the most by any A-10 defense this season with Dayton and UMass.

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 a 79-95-27 overall record on the Bluff and a 40-51-15 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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