ST. LOUIS – Sixth-seeded Duquesne (10-6-2) orchestrated its second consecutive upset of the 2021 Atlantic 10 Men's Soccer Championship behind a highly-physical victory in the league's semifinal clash with No. 2 Rhode Island (10-5-2), kicking off the contest with pair of unanswered goals en route to a 2-1 win Friday evening at Robert R. Hermann Stadium.

With the victory, the Dukes move on to A-10 Men's Soccer Championship title match, battling undefeated top-seed Saint Louis at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 14. The contest will be broadcast live via ESPN+.

The Dukes fought their way onto the board early, notching the game's opening score in the 10th minute via a long-distance strike from Nate Dragisich. The sophomore forward split two defenders at the top of the box before angling a shot towards the upper right corner, capturing his fifth goal of the season and moving into second on the squad's scoring list.

Following the midway break, Duquesne managed to extend its lead behind a perfectly-executed set piece at the 59th minute, as Ryan Landry took advantage of an arching free kick to the bottom of the box to set up Zach Mowka for the eventual game-winning one-touch tap in, good for the freshman's fifth score of the year.

Rhody sought a comeback attempt behind a late offensive push, tacking on a goal at the 63rd minute via a weaving sequence of downfield passes which culminated with a one-on-one for Rafa Villanueva. The Spanish import knocked home the score – his third of the 2021 campaign – to pull the Rams back within one.

Overall, both Rhode Island and Duquesne proved fairly even adversaries in the final stat book, finishing at nearly identical totals in shots (10-to-9 URI favor) and shots-on-goal (5-to-4 DUQ favor) while the Rams dominated in corner kicks (10-to-4).

Between the pipes, Rhody's Stefan Schmidt and the Dukes' Domenic Nascimben coincidentally concluded the contest with similar stats as well, as each grabbed three saves for the match.