Dukes conquer visiting Vikings

The Duquesne women’s soccer team had to overcome several emotional and physical battles to pull out a 2-1 victory over visiting Cleveland State Sunday at Rooney Field. The Dukes improve to 4-5-1, while the Cleveland State Vikings drop to 3-7.

The deciding goal came in the 85th minute as a long centering pass came in from senior defender Michelle Mooren. Senior attacking midfielder Morgan Herbert found the ball and was able to head the ball past the Vikings freshman goalie Sarah Wood. The goal gave the Dukes a 2-1 lead that would be tested, but not broken.

The Dukes have now eclipsed their win total from a year ago and if that is a sign of things to come then they are definitely in a good place.

Coach Al Alvine was excited to see the Dukes pull out a tough victory and gain confidence.

“[It’s] great. This was a win that we really needed. It is great to build some momentum, two wins in a row, going into conference play next week,” Alvine said.

The final goal came in answer to a Vikings goal that came in the 81st minute. A cross came in from freshman forward Vickie Havas that successfully found freshman midfielder Samantha Sarmento for a wide open header into the net.

Goalkeeper Devon Tabata said the goal scored on her was impressive.

“The player kind of got beat here, on the right side, and she played a good ball to the back post. It was outside of my range,” Tabata said. “Unfortunately the girl just came in at the perfect time and headed it in. Our outside back Khali [Hale] she tracked her back, but when you have a big player like that come at you, even if you track them back it is hard to get that deflection off. So, it was a good goal on their part but a bummer on our part to let up a goal like that.”
The Dukes opened the scoring 38 seconds into the game. Senior forward Paige Maroney took a shot that Wood stopped, but the rebound became available. Caroline Lacy found the rebound and pounded it home to set the tempo for the game.

Lacy was excited about the goal.

“It feels awesome to get an early goal and just to get my second college goal. It was just awesome,” Lacy said. “I saw it played out wide to Paige. She was going to the end line and we just have been practicing playing it back, so I was just making a run like I make in practice and [the ball bounced] right to me.”
Alvine liked the way his team started the game.

“38 seconds in! [Lacy] has had such a huge impact on our program and on our team every game she is getting stronger and stronger and better and better. You can probably see we used her in a couple of different positions here today and she can play anywhere because she is that type of player,” Alvine said.

A scary moment for the Dukes came in the 87th minute when Herbert was tackled hard and went down. She was hurt and had to come out of the game.

“I don’t know [if she will be ok.] We will see,” Alvine said. “It was a bad foul, a tackle from behind. We have got a few days off here so we are hopeful that it is nothing too serious.”
Alvine was finally able to make a decision on who his starting goalie will be and chose Tabata.

“It is really great. Both Ashley and I have worked really hard back and forth and we just as a team want to name a starter so we have that consistency,” Tabata said. “I am more than honored to be the starter but at the same time I have got to be ready because Ashley is right behind me and we are neck and neck. So, she is right there, and I just have got to keep working hard and doing what I am doing.”
Alvine said the Dukes will present a challenge to opponents.

“I think we are going to be a difficult team to play against for anybody. Our first two games this week are on the road, two tough games against Fordham and LaSalle. We will have a game plan in place for each of those teams and we will go there with a lot of confidence,” Alvine said.

The Dukes look ahead to their road trip to start conference play. They will play at Fordham on Friday and at La Salle on Sunday.