
Duquesne raced out to a two goal lead lead with goals by Linnea Faccenda and Casey Aunkst, and held on for its first Atlantic 10 conference win of the season, beating previously unbeaten Saint Louis, 2-1 at Rooney Field on Sunday.
The Dukes (5-3-2, 1-1) were opportunistic, jumping out to the early lead as Faccenda scored her team high fourth goal of the season after receiving a nice pass from Abbey Losco, getting inside the box to put her shot by Mary Niehaus.
It also took another top-notch performance from goalkeeper Kyra Murphy, who made 10 saves in handing Saint Louis (9-1-1, 1-1) its first loss of the season in an Atlantic 10 matchup on Rooney Field.
SLU entered the match of one of only six undefeated NCAA Division I women’s soccer teams.
Early in the second half Saint Louis’ Haley Cox rattled one off the crossbar from close range in the 54th minute. The Billikens were called for a foul in the box and Aunkst put the ensuing penalty kick in the left corner to give the Dukes a 2-0 lead in the 59th minute.
The goal was the first of the season for Aunkst.
Saint Louis responded to cut the Duquesne lead, when Alli Klug took a free kick from Courtney Reimer and headed it past Murphy in the 73rd minute.
Despite a strong push for the equalizer from Saint Louis, the Dukes would hold on for a win that helped them rebound from a 3-0 conference opening loss at LaSalle on Friday.
Duquesne joined Arkansas State (3-2 loss on Aug. 27) as the only team to score more than one goal against SLU this season. Saint Louis had given up just four goals in its first 10 games.
Duquesne has now won three of the past four meetings with the Billikens.
NEXT UP
The Dukes host VCU on Thursday, Sept. 28 at 7:00 p.m. on Rooney Field. Admission to all DU home games is free.
