MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Hours after reentering the national rankings in the United Soccer Coaches poll, West Virginia collected their fourth consecutive victory in a 1-0 triumph over Duquesne. The No. 21 Mountaineers (5-1-1) are unbeaten in their last six matches.
In the 85th minute, Sammie Walker followed up a shot from Harry Hogben and sent the rebound home for his second goal of the season. West Virginia’s consistent pressure and possession in the second half was finally rewarded. The Mountaineers held a 16-5 edge in shots and an 8-3 advantage in corner kicks.
“It was good fortune then,” Walker said. “But it is a part of the process when we are getting chances are creating a lot of stress on their back line and their goalkeeper. Eventually, one fell to us that we couldn’t miss.”
“With respect to a very, very good Duquesne side that did make it very difficult and then defended the box really well late on, I do feel we got what we deserved with the result,” said WVU head coach Dan Stratford.
“Obviously thankful that one drops to Sammie and he takes care of business. We’ll take it and move on. We need to quickly because there’s some really tasty games coming up.”
The teams combined for just one shot on goal in the first half. Pablo Pozos’ shot in the fourth minute was saved by Sam Coss and the match entered halftime scoreless.
For the second consecutive match, WVU controlled the run of play before breaking the stalemate in the final ten minutes. In last Thursday’s Sun Belt Conference opener, the Mountaineers used a goal in the 81st minute to defeat Georgia State, 1-0.
“My pre-match speeches must be missing the mark. I may have to rethink whatever it is I say before they come out to start the game,” Stratford said.
“I kind of said at halftime, ‘Guys, there’s no point in me yelling at you. There’s no point in me berating or belittling you right now. The hair dryer treatment would be pointless. You know it has not been good enough. I know it has not been good enough’. That’s the great thing about football, there’s two halves.”
After taking the lead with 5:29 to play, WVU was able to see the match out, but not without some late drama. Duquesne (4-1-2) earned a corner kick with 20 seconds to play. A shot from Alex Posada was blocked by the Mountaineers just in front of the goal and a follow-up shot from the Dukes went just wide.
“Very disappointed with a little bit of the game management and again, too naive in some moments of how we managed the clock with that short amount of time,” Stratford said. “The game should have never got back to Toby [Mawer] in the first place. And then Toby has to do better with execution that leads to the throw-in that leads to the corner late on. There’s some things we’ll need to take from that.”
Duquesne came to Morgantown with the nation’s best goals against average (0.33). The Dukes had allowed just two goals in their first six matches.
West Virginia now enters a challenging stretch of matches over the next two weeks. WVU will visit Marshall in the annual Mountain State Derby before hosting No. 1 South Carolina and traveling to No. 15 Old Dominion in early October.
“Really good challenges in front of us,” Walker said. “That’s why we need to keep our eyes ahead of us. It is really important. The next three games are very crucial for our season.”
Marshall and WVU split a pair of meetings in 2025. The Mountaineers won the regular season meeting, 3-0 before falling to the Thundering Herd in the Sun Belt Tournament, 3-2 in double overtime.
“That’s turned into kind of a marquee game within college soccer across the country,” said Stratford. “It will be more about making sure they are really excited, energized and looking to do something we have yet to do under my tenure here which is go to Marshall and win. It has generally gone to the home team or it has been a tie. Obviously, we’ll want to feel like we seek revenge for the nature of how the [Sun Belt] semifinal here played out and get our away win on Sunday.”
Dan Stratford on Sunday night’s Mountain State Derby match at Marshall: pic.twitter.com/jthaqiONmH
— Joe Brocato (@joebrowvm) September 23, 2026