Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University men's soccer team remained unbeaten Sunday, improving to 3-0 for the second time in the last three years and picking up its first road victory of the 2024 season with a 1-0 win over Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio, at Corcoran Field.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS
The contest remained scoreless with under 10 minutes to play, when the lone shot on goal for the Dukes proved to be the only one that mattered. Senior forward
Maxi Hopfer was able to find redshirt sophomore
Jaxon Ervin, who buried one past Xavier goalkeeper Jonny Mennell to give Duquesne the lead. The Dukes finished with just two shots during the match but snapped a six-match unbeaten streak by the Musketeers at Corcoran Field in the regular season, a stretch in which Xavier, which was coming off a 2-0 win over No. 2 Marshall as part of a four-game homestand to open its season, owned a 3-0-3 record. For Ervin, it marked his second consecutive match with a goal.
THE SCORER
Duquesne has received a boost early in the 2024 season with the return of a healthy Hopfer, who picked up his 50th career point thanks to the assist on the game-winning goal. Hopfer is the ninth student-athlete in program history to reach the 50-point threshold, as he is tied for seventh with Dave Kovalcik (1995-97, 1999) and Derek MacKenzie (2001-04). Hopfer owns a goal and a pair of helpers in the first three games of 2024.
CLEAN SHEET
The game-winning goal from Ervin helped bolster senior
Zoltan Nagy, who collected his first shutout of the 2024 season and third of his career on the Bluff. Nagy faced a season-high 13 shots, turning six away. In playing a full 90 for the second consecutive game, Nagy has collected 10 saves over the last two matches and lowered his goals against average to 0.80.
NOTES
Senior
Jesper Moksnes was one of four Dukes to log a full 90 minutes Sunday and is the only student-athlete for Duquesne through the first three games to play all 270 minutes … Also playing a full 90 for the Dukes Sunday were
Christoffer Vie Angell and
Grant McIntosh … Earning their first respective starts for Duquesne against the Musketeers were
Roni Badler and
Blaize Hardy … Xavier (2-1-1) used 21 different players, with nine posting at least one shot … The Musketeers held a 9-2 advantage in corner kicks … Seven yellow cards were issued in the contest, six of which came in the final 6:05 of action, including five for Duquesne … The Dukes improved to 10-4-2 (.688) in the all-time series with Xavier, with Sunday's victory helping split a home-and-home series that began last year.
UP NEXT
Duquesne returns home to Rooney Field Thursday, Sept. 5, to host Niagara at 7:00 p.m.
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