Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University women's soccer team closed out its 2024 season Sunday with a 1-1 tie against George Mason in Fairfax, Va., at George Mason Stadium. In collecting their first draw of the 2024 campaign, the Dukes conclude the year with an overall record of 9-7-1 (.559), including 3-6-1 (.350) in the Atlantic 10.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS
Scoreless after 45 minutes, the Patriots grabbed the lead, 1-0, at 48:39, when Sydney Dacus collected her first goal of the 2024 season on an assist by Rachel Eberly. The Dukes were on the attack the majority of the second half, outshooting George Mason, 20-5, after the break, and were able to net the equalizer at 74:37. Duquesne's flurry was capitalized by junior forward
Maya Matesa, who took a feed from fellow classmate
Mackenzie Muir and registered her third goal of the season to knot the game, 1-1. In the final 15 minutes of action, the Dukes owned a 10-1 edge in shots over the Patriots but were unable to record a possible game winner, with Selamawit Caldart posting five saves during that span for George Mason (3-10-6 | 1-5-4 Atlantic 10).
JUNIORS
Fittingly, the final points of the 2024 season came from the Duquesne junior class. The Dukes finished with 93 points during the year, a total that ranks seventh in program history, with the juniors accounting for 79.6 percent (74-of-93) of the production. Muir picked up her seventh assist of the 2024 season in the season finale against George Mason, the most by a member of the Dukes since 2017, when former forward Katie O'Connor (2015-18) also posted seven. Muir was one of five student-athletes for Duquesne that scored at least 10 points this fall, four of which were juniors. Matesa joined the fray against the Patriots, as her goal helped her finish the year fifth on the squad with 11 points courtesy of three goals and five assists.
NOTES
The 27 shots against GMU were the most taken by the Dukes in an Atlantic 10 match this season as well as their highest total since also finishing with 27 in a 2-1 win at Youngstown State (Sept. 15) … Duquesne also owned a 14-4 advantage in shots on goal, a season high against an A-10 foe … The 29 assists for the Dukes during the 2024 season is tied with the 2016 squad for fourth in the single-season records … Duquesne posted 32 goals in 2024, the ninth time in program history reaching the 30-goal threshold and the first time since 2016 … The Dukes unleashed 318 shots on the year, which ranks third in program history and is the most since the 2004 team established the program standard with 349.
THE FINAL TALLY
Junior forward
Margey Brown paced Duquesne in scoring in 2024 with 23 points thanks to nine goals and five assists, while classmate
Brianna Moore notched 18 points courtesy of eight goals and two helpers. Redshirt freshman
Hailey Longwell finished with 12 points in finding the back of the net six times, joining Muir (15) and Matesa (11) in collecting at least 10 points during the season. Entering 2025, Moore (32), Brown (31) and Matesa (30) have each reached the 30-point plateau for their respective careers, while Muir is Duquesne's active leader in assists (12) and has scored 28 career points.
SENIOR SALUTE
Sunday marked the final game in a Duquesne uniform for seniors
Ally Campanella,
Mackenzie Leeder and
Maddy Neundorfer. Campanella saw action in 37 career games on the Bluff, including 14 starts, while Leeder and Neundorfer were two of five players that started all 17 games for the Dukes during the 2024 campaign. They were joined by Muir, junior
Lindsay Krafchick and sophomore
Jayden Sharpless. Leeder collected a pair of assists this season and closed her career with 45 starts among 55 matches played. Neundorfer, meanwhile, earned a starting assignment in 52 of her 55 career matches and closed with a 22-22-8 (.500) record as the goalkeeper for Duquesne while posting career totals of 256 saves, a .771 save percentage and a 1.47 goals against average.
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