Jaxon Ervin makes his chance count to lift Duquesne to 1-0 road victory at Xavier

Photo courtesy Duquesne University women's soccer

Duquesne University men’s soccer team remained unbeaten with a 1-0 win over Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio, at Corcoran Field on Sunday afternoon.

Former West Allegheny standout Jaxon Ervin score the match’s lone goal to give the Dukes (3-0-0) their third straight win to start the 2024 campaign, while goalkeeper Zoltan Nagy, collected his first shutout of the 2024 season by making six saves.

Once again, under the direction of Head Coach Chase Brooks, the Dukes are now 16-5 in matches decided by one goal since the start of 2022.

This win was #DuqMSoccer's 50th by a single goal under Chase Brooks @pghsoccernow. https://t.co/779oyT4LWL

— Zachary Weiss (@ZacharyMWeiss) September 2, 2024

How It Happened 

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.

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.

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.

Match 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.