Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University men's soccer team stayed unbeaten at Rooney Field Saturday, earning its second consecutive come-from-behind victory with a 3-1 win over Dayton. In collecting their first win over the Flyers in 20 years, the Dukes improved to 6-2-2 (.700) overall, including 3-1 (.750) in the Atlantic 10.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS
Dayton (6-3-3 | 0-2-2 Atlantic 10) struck first, with Farouq Ogundare scoring his second goal of the year at 24:50 on a feed from Braden Seel. Duquesne almost had connected for the first goal of the contest earlier, but despite falling behind was able to jump in front with a pair of goals in less than two minutes. The first came at 36:09, as redshirt senior
Jaxon Ervin fed redshirt junior
Chris Philibin down the far side. Philibin had an opportunity at a shot but made the extra pass, slicing the ball across the box to senior
Cody Da, who tapped a shot into a wide open lower left corner of the net to tie the game.
A LIFT FROM LANDRY
Less than two minutes later, the Dukes grabbed the lead, and it was Da and Ervin in the middle of the action again. Duquesne was awarded a set piece just outside the 25-yard line, with
Pepo Bravo firing into a line of players but the ball being knocked down. Da collected the loose ball and looked for a shot but instead found Ervin, who skirted one past Dayton goalkeeper Santino Inkpen into the right corner to give the Dukes a 2-1 edge at 38:19. Ervin, the program's active leading scorer with 26 points entering Saturday's matchup as part of Homecoming on the Bluff, picked up his first strike of the 2026 season and ninth of his career thanks to the goal. Among the group of alumni in attendance from the Duquesne men's soccer program was former midfielder
Ryan Landry (2016-21), one of the previous Dukes to sport No. 17 and wearing his former jersey in the stands, the same digit as Ervin.
QUOTABLE
"As a coach, we prep and we plan, but it's down to the players to execute, and boy did they tonight," head coach
Chase Brooks said. "We had a game plan coming in that if we stuck to it and stuck to our principles well that we could get a result. Dayton is a historic program. They've done really good things there. Super proud of the guys. As long as you stay true to who you are good things can happen. You can never guarantee results, but you can guarantee the process. You can guarantee that we're going to build in the right way, have the culture going in the right direction. That's where these guys showed up, they executed, and I don't know if I could ask for much more. There's a lot of belief in this group."
EXCLAMATION POINT
Duquesne sealed the victory in the second half, as junior
Dan Banks provided a long outlet pass that crossed midfield and found its way to Da. Dribbling down the far side and three defenders in position for the Flyers, Da instead found a crease and drilled it past Inkpen for his second goal of the tilt to settle the final score at 66:55. Da collected five points in the win thanks to a pair of goals and an assist and also produced a career-high four shots, including three on frame. Duquesne held an 18-12 cushion in the category, including 8-3 on net, as Ervin added five shots in the contest for the Dukes.
QUOTABLE
"(Da) executed very well," Brooks said. "We had a conversation earlier this week on a couple of things that we might be able to see from him moving into this game and beyond, and he absolutely took full momentum and ran with it tonight. (Ervin) has been doing everything the right way for us all season long, it just hasn't happened for him on the scoresheet. You look at this program and the direction we're going and it's guys like him that are the backbone of that. Really, really happy for him tonight."
NOTES
The win snapped a five-game streak of contests decided by one goal for Duquesne … The win comes three days shy of 20 years since the last time the Dukes were victorious over the Flyers, which also came at Rooney Field … Duquesne earned a 2-1 triumph over Dayton Oct. 13, 2006, in a game that at the time head coach Dennis Currier was in his second year at the helm of the Flyers … Brooks would join the coaching staff as an assistant at Dayton in 2007 and spend four years with the Flyers before taking his first job as a head coach at Niagara … Ervin is the eighth different player for the Dukes to score a goal this season and also pushed his career point total to 29 … Dayton held a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.
UP NEXT
Duquesne continues its road tour against local rivals with a non-conference game Tuesday, Oct. 13. Already having visited Robert Morris (8/30) and No. 21 West Virginia (9/22), the Dukes take on No. 10 Pitt at 7:00 p.m. at Ambrose Urbanic Field.
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