Benjamin Gottschalk | Staff Writer
March 24, 2022
Despite trailing by as many as four goals, the Duquesne women’s lacrosse team used a second-half surge to defeat Butler 19-16 at Rooney Field on Sunday afternoon.
The Bulldogs held a 12-8 edge early in the third quarter, but the Dukes managed to even the score at 14 heading into the fourth quarter. After Alana Piano broke the tie just under three minutes into the final quarter, Duquesne would maintain the lead for the rest of the game.
Tina St. Clair, who scored a game-high-tying five goals and added two assists in the victory, recorded a goal and an assist in the third quarter before adding some insurance with another goal to make it 16-14 early in the final frame.
Duquesne Head Coach Corinne Desrosiers offered high praise for her senior attacker.
“Tina is awesome. She knows what to do off the ball. She knows what to do with the ball,” Desrosiers said. “She’s always here to help her team. She is there with the right play call when they need it. She is the experience in a very young offense.”
The Dukes also got key contributions from Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw and Mackenzie Leszczynski, who each scored four goals. Six of the combined eight goals came in the game’s second half.
The three-goal win helped Duquesne snap a three-game losing streak that began on Feb. 23.
“Coming into today, we really wanted to handle the adversity and the high emotions of a very physical and aggressive Butler team,” Desrosiers said. “Today’s game plan was to play more disciplined, and I think that we did that.”
With the Dukes trailing by three goals (11-8) at halftime, Desrosiers worried that her team’s inexperience would catch up to them.
“We have a really young team, which I love, but with young teams, you can hit the panic button early when things don’t go your way,” Desrosiers said.
However, Duquesne found a way to overcome the deficit and win a game for the first time since beating Kent State on Feb. 20.
The Dukes will return to action on Friday afternoon, when they host Saint Joseph’s at Rooney Field.
