Season Preview: Duquesne Men’s Soccer determined to return to standard

Often times in American football, one hears the term tw0-a-days, but throughout the past couple of weeks, the Duquesne Men’s Soccer Team has done one better.

Even when Mother Nature intervened, the coaching staff found a way to be creative, moving practice to the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse back gym, where with volleyball nets still in place, the team competed in soccer volleyball, trying to kick and head the ball over the net.

At another practice, a similar effort was concocted in the form of Connect Four and the team split in half.

Of course everyone was competitive, but both exercises were ways to build those bonds and relationships that will prove pivotal in order to have a successful season.

“We’ve had a good preseason, we’ve worked hard and we like to think we’ve done more than any other team in the country,” redshirt senior captain Ashwin Menon explained. “We came in with three-a-days and worked hard, got a good group of guys here, new faces and even a new coaching staff. It’s kind of a new era for Duquesne and we’re ready to go. We have some of the returners that are pushing the standards, so we’re excited to get this underway.”

The three-a-days were done by design to show up and work hard for the collective with the reminder that there is a bigger goal at the end of it all.

“The struggle brings you closer together in the end, a lot of hours together laughing too,” senior captain Jaxon Ervin noted.” “…The energy is there. We’ve been together 24/7 for the past two weeks and the vibes are really good. Everyone is ready to go, so Thursday will be exciting. Big game for us.”

There is a lot of newness for Duquesne as 10 roster members were not on the team in the fall and the entire coaching staff, with the exception of Chase Brooks who enters his 14th season leading the team, is new to the sideline.

With that said the coaching staff does have a familiar wrinkle with Rodrigo Albayeros playing multiple seasons with Duquesne. Also on staff are Alex Surprise, Eric Cotton and Dean Mercer as the director of operations.

As captains, both Ervin and Menon understand they respectively are faces and voices representing the program, a challenge Menon seems eager to face.

The pair have been roommates for the past three seasons and now take this step forward together.

“Throughout my childhood and career, I have always been a vocal presence on the field,” revealed Menon. “I think that translated into college. In college I never thought I would end up being captain, but at the end of it here I am really happy I am. It just helps me be myself more. It’s kind of hard to keep my voice quiet. I like to speak and I think I know the game well. It just helps to have the armband; people respect you and I’m really grateful.”

As the second practice from day one of preseason was about to commence, Brooks set up the field and uttered a sentiment, a sense of pride.

To him, this felt like Duquesne’s deepest roster. This feeling has maintained which has made margins very thin when selecting a starting 11 for Thursday’s season opener against Lafayette.

“I think we knew on paper that it was a strong group,” said Brooks. “You never really know how a team is going to gel and come together. We know our culture is solid, but it’s about the adjustment period and getting everybody acclimated to who we are and what we are about. I give the guys credit; the new guys came in and hit the ground nicely. That depth we’ve talked about is there. I think you’ve seen in every (exhibition) game all, but a couple of players got in so it’s a really good sign. The fact that there’s really no drop off is something that I think is rare, but I am really happy. It’s going to give me some headaches certainly as we get to pick a starting lineup but those are the good types of headaches any coach would like.”

Here is a breakdown for the Dukes:

Last season– Duquesne was 8-6-2, but as injuries mounted posted a 2-6-0 Atlantic 10 mark, missing the conference championship for the first time in a full season since 2019.

“I think what you saw last year was inexperience overall and as injuries hit us it kind of derailed what we were trying to do,” Brooks analyzed. “The whole team learned a lot and continued to step forward, add in some guys we think can compete right away, getting guys back to full health as well is obviously a good thing and now it’s about letting them compete and push each other. They say iron sharpens iron, so how good we can be on the field will be determined by them in many ways and I’m excited for that.”

“Last year we didn’t get anything near what we wanted,” added Ervin. “This is our last year, we’re individually fired up, but everyone in that locker room is eager to get going. They want it more than ever and so do we.”

Key returnees– Jaxon Ervin (12 pts/16 games), Roni Badler (8 pts), Miles Imparato (7 pts/16 games), Ashwin Menon (6 pts/16 games), Hakon Dagur Matthiasson (5 pts), Pepo Bravo (4 pts), Marko Rasmussen (16 games), Blaize Hardy, Alex Posada (16 games), Ofek Sasson (13 games)

Key departures– Diego Chavez (15 games/1.13 GAA), Dakota Jonke (10 pts/16 games), Ashton Jell (6 pts), Grant McIntosh (3 pts), Bendix Bennetzen, Daman Sangha

Newcomers (freshmen unless otherwise noted)– Dylan Fisher, Steel Bayer (redshirt WVU), Jameson Michel (Howard), Ethan Soto, Jack Karwoski, Nico Simakas, Patrick Longo, Hayden Owens (Kentucky), Jose Goodman Millman, Elijah Jenson

Reason to be optimistic–Duquesne does have a core group of returners of which both Ervin and Menon are a part of but also a healthy back line once again as Blaize Hardy and Alex Posada, someone heavily counted upon last season can be expected to help anchor the defensive end. Additionally, the same can be said for Ofek Sasson who returns from injury after playing 13 games a season ago.

“They were starters last year for a reason, consistently getting the job done for us,” Brooks observed. “They’ve had a really good preseason. In our three preseason games we’ve given up two goals that are good learning moments for us, but we ended really strongly with the last one and not giving up a lot of shots on goal. We’re in a good spot, now it’s about making sure that we do our best to keep them fit and healthy and keep them hungry. There are guys around them testing them and that is great to see. They are getting tested and pushed every day, I half joked with the staff that we have five starters at center-back within our group, so that’s a really good place to be.”

He said it

“We almost have this we don’t care mentality. We’re just going to go up, face whoever it is in front of us. It’s 11 guys against 11 guys at the end of the day and I kind of really like it. Nobody is really afraid; it’s just show up and get the job done. We drew two games, so be it, we learn from that. I’m excited I think we have a good stretch coming.” – Menon

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