Pittsburgh, Pa. – Senior forward
Maya Matesa of the Duquesne University women's soccer team collected her second consecutive Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week honor Monday. She has earned the honor each of the first two weeks of the 2025 season. In helping the Dukes improve to 3-0 for the first time since 1998 with a pair of wins last week, Matesa finished with 10 points courtesy of five goals on 13 shots, seven of which were on goal.
In a
3-0 victory over Saint Francis (8/21) that opened the home portion of the schedule for Duquesne, Matesa scored the first two goals of the contest to give the Dukes a 2-0 advantage at halftime. She collected her first goal of the contest at 26:40, moving past a defender and beating SFU goalkeeper Emma Sawich to put Duquesne on the board. Matesa completed the brace against the Red Flash less than five minutes later, taking a feed from junior
Kayla Leseck in front of the net and capitalizing with her second goal of the game.
Three days later in a
6-0 triumph at Mercyhurst (8/24), Matesa became the 11th player in program history to register a hat trick. She scored each of the first three goals against the Lakers, staking the Dukes to a 2-0 halftime advantage by scoring twice in the opening 10 minutes. Matesa finished off the hat trick with a header early in the second half to push Duquesne's lead to 3-0.
Thanks to the honor Monday, Matesa is the third player in program history to be named the Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week twice in a season. Former defender Michelle Mooren (2009-12) was a two-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Week during the 2010 campaign, while Matesa joins former midfielder Deena DeBaldo (2017-20) as the only two Dukes in program history to collect A-10 Offensive Player of the Week accolades in consecutive weeks. DeBaldo was tabbed Co-Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Week Sept. 16, 2019, and Sept. 23, 2019.
Entering play this week, Matesa leads NCAA Division I points per game (4.67) thanks to seven goals in three games. She also leads the country in goals per game (2.33), with Hope Leyba of Colorado out of the Big 12 also owning seven goals in four contests (1.75 per game).
As a team, Duquesne ranks fifth in NCAA Division I in shots per game (26.00) as well as ninth in shots on goal per contest (10.67). It's helped the Dukes sit eighth in the country in scoring offense with an average 4.00 goals per game. Since falling behind, 2-0, at halftime of its season opener at Kent State (8/17), Duquesne has scored 12 unanswered goals.
The seven goals for Matesa through three games of the 2025 season already matches her career high, which she established as a sophomore in 2023. She ranks fourth all-time at Duquesne for career goals (19) as well as sixth in points (44). Matesa also owns six career game-winning goals, including three this season, which is tied for sixth in the record book with five other student-athletes, including teammate
Mackenzie Muir.
Led by
Jessica Giegucz, in her first year as head coach on the Bluff, the Dukes wrap up a two-game road trip Thursday, August 28, with a 7:00 p.m. game at West Virginia.
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