Moving On to A-10 Semifinals: Formula of Tempo, Home Turf, and Trusting the Process Keeps Duquesne’s Title Hopes Alive

The Duquesne men’s soccer team had one week to learn from its shortcomings against La Salle in its regular season finale as it hosted the Explorers Atlantic 10 Men’s Soccer Tournament quarterfinals.

It already was largely happy with how it possessed the ball in that setback and looked to build upon that.

Meanwhile before Saturday night’s effort, redshirt freshman defender Steel Bayer was praying. He was praying for his team to win, not knowing that his header would directly impact the result.

Bayer’s effort in the 76th minute would be the lone goal scored as Duquesne won its first conference tournament game since 2022 by a 1-0 count. This makes 12 different Dukes who have scored this season.

“I was happy I was able to be the guy,” Bayer beamed. “As soon as I was able to get that ball clean off my head and find the back of the net, I just could not wait to celebrate with my teammates and embrace each other. Just extremely blessed to convert on one finally. Had so many good services from Jaxon (Ervin) and Pepo (Bravo) all year, so to get my head on one and winning the game, extremely blessed.

As head coach Chase Brooks acknowledged, corners have not exactly been as kind as desired for Duquesne this season.

“We know we’ve got size and the ability there, the corners haven’t fallen as much as we would have liked this year but what a time to get your first one,” he explained. “Love it.”

Here are some takeaways from the effort.

1. Losing to Penn State and then La Salle last week likely ended any chance of Duquesne getting into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection.

Duquesne had the opportunity to clinch the regular season title with a win and were unable to do so, only earned the accomplishment with some help from the Davidson Wildcats drawing with the Saint Louis Billikens.

Ideally, it is a cliche to play your best soccer heading into your conference tournament, but Duquesne was not able to do that, but ultimately when the game went final on Saturday, that did not matter.

“We came together and got back to our motto,” Bayer advised. “We were getting away from ourselves last week and relied on our coaches and each other to trust each other and focus on the game plan.”

Duquesne did not concede any shots on frame in this contest, proving made proper adjustments.

2. The Dukes had the better of run of play and the 9-2 advantage in corner kicks definitely went a long way in proving that. Corners show a stat beyond the 13-7 edge in shots, but a confirmation of providing opportunities within the attacking third.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game, obviously to go there last weekend and not get the result,” Brooks stated. “We knew what their gameplan was going to be and we didn’t expect anything different, so the win was what mattered most. If it was pretty great, if it was ugly great. At the end of the day, you’re in the postseason, you’ve got to find ways to get results. We knocked on the door a few times tonight and thankfully we kicked it in.”

3. Thankfully for Brooks, Daniel D’Ippolito is out of eligibility, but Fordham is returning to a Rooney Field where it bested Duquesne in a quarterfinal contest a couple of seasons ago.

Fordham seeded sixth upset George Mason 1-0 earlier on in Saturday’s play. The sides are set to meet for a first time this season.

There is still one quarterfinal left to be decided as Rhode Island and Davidson saw a postponement delay this match until late Saturday morning. Just over 10 minutes remaining into the contest with each side scoreless.

Given Duquesne’s successful quarterfinal result, it remains undefeated at home, something which going into the regular season was a goal established across the team.

“Fordham is a very good side, they’re going to throw us some curveballs we may have seen or haven’t seen, so we’ve got to be prepared to step out onto the field and get the job done,” concluded Brooks.

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Zac Weiss