Men's soccer goes on scoring spree

The Duquesne men's soccer team scored four goals in the last 14 minutes of its 5-1 victory over Rhode Island on Rooney Field Sunday to vault the team back into contention for an Atlantic 10 Tournament spot.

Austin Lange's goal in the 21st minute gave the Dukes (5-7-2, 2-2-1) a 1-0 advantage going into the half. But they would face some adversity after Rhode Island forward Reece Markman grabbed the ball out of a scrum in front of Duquesne's net and tapped it past goaltender Colin Thorp to knot the game at 1 in the 58th minute.

As the clock ticked below 20 minutes, the two teams settled into their defenses, and the game seemed destined for overtime.

Then Duquesne exploded.

In the 86th minute, senior midfielder Jared Gentile placed a line-drive corner kick right in front of the Rams' net, resulting in freshman midfielder Colin Phillips, driving the game-winning goal into the back of the net to put the Dukes up 2-1.

Duquesne would go on to score three goals within three minutes of each other in the game's last five minutes, including Simon Gomez's and Josh Patterson's sixth goals of the season, to pull away in a performance the Dukes needed to have.

"I'm really happy with the guys," coach Jake Ouimet said. "We've been missing some of these chances. We've definitely had opportunities, and it was spectacular to see us take advantage of those opportunities today."

Josh Patterson's lack of production has been a focal point this season, but the junior forward ignited with four goals this weekend, including a hat-trick in Duquesne's 4-0 victory over UMass Friday. Patterson has tied Gomez for the team lead in goals, which Gomez said forms a two-headed monster that Duquesne needs to perform well in its remaining games.

"[Patterson's] play is extremely important for the team. He's one of our biggest forwards, along with me," Gomez said. "It boosts our confidence when both forwards can put the ball in the back of the net."

The team was also pleased to see some unfamiliar names contribute to its rout. Phillips and fellow freshman Nick DiSomma netted their first goals of their collegiate careers, and Gentile picked up his first three assists of the season.

Phillips, who missed five games due to a concussion earlier in the season, was excited to score the goal that proved to be the difference.

"This just feels great. We needed these six points," Phillips said. "Rhode Island played a really good game until late there, and it felt great just to help out the team. I've been waiting for this one for a while."

The entire team has been waiting for this type of performance for a while. The Dukes have outscored their opponents 9-1 while improving their home record to 5-0-2, 2-0-1 over the weekend.

The six points the Dukes earned in their two weekend victories gives them a total of seven points in conference play and puts them just two points behind Temple, George Washington and Saint Louis for the Atlantic 10's sixth postseason seed. The Dukes will play Temple and George Washington in two of their remaining four games.

Lange, who expressed his excitement with a coordinated back-flip after his second goal of the season Sunday, believes the team has gotten over the hump of not capitalizing on scoring chances.

"It took us a while to have this type of performance, but we knew we would eventually," Lange said. "Everyone kept their faith and believed we could pull a couple games together like this. Now we just have to keep this momentum going."

Duquesne will look to finish the season unbeaten at home while attempting to climb higher in the A10 standings when they close out their home schedule with weekend matchups against Temple at 7 p.m. Friday and Saint Joseph's at 1 p.m. Sunday.