Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field, the home facility of the Duquesne men’s soccer program, is situated on the center of campus high above the Monongahela River.

Over the course of the previous season, visiting opponents have had difficulty escaping ‘The Bluff’ with a victory. The Dukes haven’t lost on home turf in 11 months and Thursday night was no different.

As a result, the Colonials (3-4-1) were unable to defeat Duquesne (5-2-2) into handing them an easy win, falling 4-1 in a lopsided affair.

Can’t score if you don’t shoot … on target

The chief reason why Robert Morris couldn’t muster any offensive production was because it attempted a mere eight shots on backup goalkeeper Evan Kozlowski and the majority of the kicks sailed high or wide of the cage.

Kozlowski wasn’t tested until the 76^th minute of play when Devon Williams notched his third tally of the season, tapping in a ball setup by Carl Reid and other than this occasion, he had a very relaxed night, facing zero shots on goal.

Speed kills

On the other end of the spectrum, the Colonials struggled to contain the quickness of the DU forwards, which accounted for a handful of odd-man rushes.

Duquesne consistently bombarded net minder Brendan Alfery with shot after shot, testing the Grove City College transfer whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Despite a solid performance in net, turning away five shots, Alfery didn’t receive the support from his defenders that he needed.

“I’ve been playing [Duquesne] for 17 years, that’s the best game they’ve played. They were good tonight. We were a little off and they smashed us,” said head coach Bill Denniston. “I told [Alfery] that he shouldn’t feel bad. He made a couple nice saves and we just got beat.  We were slow, they were fast, 4-1.”

Playing the field

The match against the Dukes marked the first time this season that Robert Morris has played a contest on a regulation size football field, instead of a soccer-specific pitch.

According to junior Neco Brett, the presence of yard markers, combined with the slightly shorter width made it difficult for the Colonials to adjust to DU’s playing style.

“I don’t want to find any fault, but different field, you have to adjust to a smaller field,” he said. “On a field that is much smaller, it’s hard to really play soccer.”

Here’s Howard

Hoping to snap its current two game losing streak, RMU travels to the nation’s capital on Sunday afternoon to take on a Howard squad that has yet to record a victory during the 2014 campaign.

The Bison shouldn’t pose too much of a threat for RMU, considering they have been outscored 35-3 by their opponents this year.