Carrying the badge of diversity, Duquesne soccer’s international lineup ready for A-10 Tournament
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Duquesne men’s soccer coach Chase Brooks has assembled a roster of 35 players, including 13 who attended Western Pennsylvania high schools and 12 whose roots stretch over land, sea and across the globe.
Given the players’ diverse backgrounds and scattered homelands — from Iceland to Vandergrift, Australia to Upper St. Clair — Brooks appears to have no easy task getting everyone pointed in the right direction.
Yet, in his 10th season at Duquesne, he has found a winning formula. The Dukes (10-3-4, 4-1-3) enter the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Saturday night against La Salle at Rooney Field as the regular-season runner-up and, thus, one of the favorites to win it all. The Dukes have won a school record 15 consecutive home matches.
“It’s not hard as long as you have a clear philosophy and vision on where you want the program to go,” he said. “You have clear principles on how you’re going to play. Then, that guides everything. It guides our decisions as a staff. It guides the players’ decisions on the field and off the field.”
Brooks said he is most pleased to see “all these guys come from all these different countries and backgrounds and come together and believe in something and push for it. It’s been amazing to see and a lot of fun to work with.”
Duquesne was undefeated through its first eight games, a stretch in which goalkeeper Domenic Nascimben, a graduate student from Australia, allowed only three goals and recorded five of his seven shutouts. The 6-0-2 record was the school’s best start to a season and propelled Duquesne into the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 — as high as No. 24 — for three weeks. It was the Dukes’ first top-25 ranking in 17 years.
The regular season ended last Saturday night with a 1-0 loss at La Salle, but that’s how close the Dukes came to their first undefeated conference season.
Brooks said his team learned a lesson that night. With second place in the conference secured, Brooks said the team was “a little immature” in the loss.
“We really didn’t have anything to play for. We knew we were the No. 2 seed at minimum.”
No excuse for it, but Brooks called the loss part of the “learning process for this group.”
“These guys haven’t been in that situation before. Can they find their inner motivation? What’s driving them? Some of the guys played really well, and some guys it wasn’t their best night.”
What does that mean for the rematch with La Salle with much more at stake?
“We take a lot of confidence in knowing we were probably 60-70% of our best ability, and we saw La Salle’s best last weekend,” he said. “If we can come out and play the way we know how to play, stick to our principles, stay disciplined, it could be a fun night on Saturday.”
Brooks said the team, picked to finish seventh in the A-10 preseason poll, set a goal to be in position for an NCAA Tournament bid by winning the conference, something the Dukes never have done. But the Dukes can improve their No. 72 RPI by winning their first two matches and, possibly, snagging an at-large bid.
Duquesne is 4-9-3 all-time in the tournament but finished second in 1999, 2002 and 2021.
“We’re right on track to where we want to be,” Brooks said.
The team’s top goal scorers are Norwegian freshman Ask Ekeland (eight) and Austrian sophomore and captain Maxi Hopfer (five).
Brooks said Hopfer provides a boost of energy on and off the field.
“He gives 100% literally all the time,” he said. “Ask is not too far off that, gives everything he’s got. As a freshman, he really grabbed it by the reins and really showed us what he’s about.”
Brooks said his 2013 team was more talented than this one, “player for player.”
“But this is the best team I’ve worked with. The buy-in, the work rate they give, the camaraderie, it’s through the roof.”