Purple Eagles soar over Dukes

A second half surge couldn’t help the Duquesne men’s soccer team overcome the Niagara Purple Eagles as the Dukes lost 4-2 at Rooney Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Purple Eagles scored the first goal of the contest on a quick pass off of a free kick. Jacob Ohlin nudged it past sophomore goalie Sasa Miskovic, who barely had his hands on the ball, then saw it trickle in behind him and into the net.

Miskovic said he should have stopped Ohlin’s goal.

“It was just an all-around effort kind of thing. The whole team shut down a little bit, including me,” he said. “I definitely should have had the first goal, and we talked about it in the locker room.”
The Purple Eagles then scored two more goals in the first half while the Dukes scored none, making the halftime deficit 3-0.

Miskovic said the team realized during halftime they still had a chance and came out prepared to win.

“I think guys just got fired up [during halftime]. Losing 3-0, especially at home, last year ... we hadn’t lost a game at home, and now we were down 3-0,” Miskovic said. “I think it pushed the guys to come out and want to win the game ... They scored three [goals] in the first half, that didn’t mean we couldn’t score four or five goals in the second.”
Early in the second half, Duquesne was rewarded a penalty kick after a collision in front of the net that resulted in Niagara’s Roberto Andersson receiving a yellow card. Senior forward Josh Patterson took the kick for the Dukes and scored the team’s first goal of the game.

Patterson said the goal was a turning point, but the team quickly lost steam.

“We just kind of realized that our effort wasn’t good enough. We should have been able to get back into it,” he said. “We got a couple of chances and got one early, so it kind of seemed like it was going to be a lot better, but in the end we kind of blew it back off again.”
Soon after the Dukes’ goal, Niagara was given a penalty kick after Duquesne was called on a handball in the goal box and scored its fourth goal of the game.

By the time Nick Anderson scored the Dukes’ second goal, there were only three minutes remaining.

The loss was tough on the Red and Blue after they scored four goals on Howard Friday at Rooney Field.

Senior captain midfielder Carter Poe said Friday’s win may have gone to the team’s head.

“I don’t think the approach was different, maybe some of the guys were a little overconfident after Friday’s win, that we’re just going to come in on our home field and roll them [Niagara]. That wasn’t the case,” Poe said. “They were ready to put up a fight and it was hot. I just think we weren’t quite switched on all the time and that nipped us in the bud.”
Poe added that he was impressed by what he saw in the second half from the Dukes.

“It was good to see character [from the team] in the second half,” Poe said. “Good to see people didn’t give up and kept working. That’s a positive thing.”
Coach Jake Ouimet said the team didn’t change its approach too much from Howard to Niagara.

“Obviously there’s little things that you have to tweak before every game, each team you’re playing against,” Ouimet said. “We always come out with the same preparation, playing our style of soccer and today just didn’t quite click.”
The Dukes next game is on the road at Penn State this Friday. The team will return home Sept. 12 for a home game against Robert Morris.