Kent State Soccer Drops Home Opener to Duquesne

Sunday, August 17

Kent, Ohio

1:00 PM

Kent State University

1-1-0, 0-0-0

Duquesne

1-0-0, 0-0-0

Duquesne

Kent St.

Photo by: ReillyHallMedia

Kent State Soccer Drops Home Opener to Duquesne

8/17/2025 5:10:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

KENT, Ohio- It was a tale of two halves in the Kent State soccer team's home-opener as the Flashes dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Duquesne University as the Dukes capitalized on three goals in a short span to put the game away in the second half.

For the second game in a row, junior midfielder Samantha Miller scored the first goal of the contest. Much like the first game of the season, it was from an assist from junior forward Kiyomi McCausland. She once again beat the defense around the edge to find her teammate open in front of the net in the 23rd-minute.

Nineteen minutes later, the Flashes capitalized again as Isabelle Leofanti finished the play for a goal. Maya Justice was able to get a shot off that was blocked and went directly back to her. She then quickly passed it off to Leofanti who was in front of the goal to record the assist to make it 2-0 KSU heading into the halftime break.

The Blue and Gold held strong with solid defense for the first 20 minutes of the second half, but a tough five-minute stretch proved to be the difference. Duquesne's Maya Matesa scored the first of a trio of goals on the assist from Kayla Leseck in the 68th minute.

Three minutes later, Mackenzie Muir put a penalty shot through after the Dukes were rewarded one resulting from a KSU handball. A minute after that, a penalty in the box provided Duquesne another opportunity on a penalty kick.

Maya Matesa knocked that one through for her second goal of the game to give the visiting team a 3-2 lead which would hold for the final score.

Duquesne led the shots on goal category with an 8-6 advantage while also having the overall shots edge 15-10.

Kent State held the advantage on corner kicks with six opposed to Duquesne's four. Flashes goalkeeper Leah Shaffer recorded her first saves of her career with five of them.

Up Next

The Flashes will now take a week to prepare for one of their toughest tests of the season as they will travel to take on the Northwestern University Wildcats on Sunday, Aug. 24 at 1 p.m.

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