A fall season in review

Football

The football team rose to new heights this season with a 9-2, 7-1 conference finish, tying them for the Northeast Conference title. The team missed out on an opportunity to play in the Football Championship Series playoffs because they lost to fellow co-champ Albany during the regular season. Eleven Dukes earned All-NEC honors, including a league-high six first-team honorees. Junior safety Serge Kona was named NEC Defensive Player of the Year, and offensive stars quarterback Sean Patterson, running back Larry McCoy, and wide receiver Connor Dixon all received conference honors. In their fourth year since joining the NEC, the Dukes improved to their best record since 2007, and the team has improved every year they have been in the conference.

Men's cross country

The men's cross country team finished second at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships for the second straight season, and third time in four years. Crossing the line ninth, senior Erik Anderson was the fastest Duke at this year's championships with an 8k time of 24:50. The Dukes finished with five runners in the top 19 finishers. At the 10k NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship, the Dukes were led by junior Jim Spisak's 33rd place finish (31:25.3). The Dukes finished eighth of 25 teams.

Volleyball

The No. 5 seeded Dukes (19-13) came back from a two-set deficit in a thrilling 3-2 victory over George Washington in the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals but saw their season end in the semifinal round in a 0-3 loss to Dayton. The Dukes will lose four seniors this season, including starters Liz Homan and Nicole Wright. The team had five players on the all-conference team, including second-team honors for Homan and All-Rookie honors for freshmen Arielle Love and Patti Abshire.

Men's soccer

The Duquesne men's soccer team entered the 2011 season with the goal of making its first Atlantic 10 Tournament appearance since 2006, but ultimately finished just two points shy of qualifying. The Dukes were unbeaten at home (7-0-2, 4-0-1), and used an  impressive 4-0-0 stretch, in which they outscored the opposition 16-1, in late October to place themselves in contention for the A10's top spot entering the  final weekend of the regular season. They just needed one win in their final two games to qualify for the tournament, but fell to both Richmond and George Washington, finishing the season with a 0-9-0, 0-4-0 record away from Rooney Field. Duquesne's core of Simon Gomez, Josh Patterson, Adam Clement, Austin Lange and Carter Poe will remain intact for the 2012 season, forming possibly one of the A10's most entertaining teams.

Women's cross country

Meg Ecker and Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Danica Snyder led the women's cross country team to a sixth place finish out of 14 teams at this year's conference championships. Ecker finished ninth overall in the 5k with a time of 17:48.7, and Snyder finished 18th at 18:09.6. At Mid-Atlantic Regionals in November, Amber Valimont (22:41, 26th place) led the Dukes to an eighth place team finish out of 29 teams. Ecker followed in 35th and Snyder in 46th.

Women's soccer

It was a season full of memorable moments for the Duquesne women's soccer team, but they are not exactly memories the team will cherish. They suffered a streak of 569 minutes without scoring a goal, finished 3-14-1, went scoreless in 11 games and scored only nine goals throughout their 18 games. Head coach Tim Zundel resigned in November, and the search for a new head coach is still in progress. Duquesne's top two scorers were Morgan Herbert and Katie Rust, with two goals apiece. Goalies Devon Tabata and Ashley Szalwinski split goaltending duties, with Tabata ending the season 2-5-1 with a .776 save percentage, and Szalwinski finishing 1-9 with a .778 save percentage. Tabata also recorded two shutouts against St. Francis and Richmond.