April 6, 2008

Box Score | Photo Gallery

PITTSBURGH - Richmond scored they first eight goals of the second half as the came back from a six-goal halftime deficit to get by Duquesne 15-13 at Cupples Stadium Sunday afternoon.

The match started out with the Dukes dominating as they took a 6-0 lead in the first 11 minutes of the match. Kat McNish got Duquesne on the board 59 seconds in and less than a minute later Shannon Hadaway found the back of the net. Meghan Frederick scored the first of her two goals at 27:06.

DU continued to throwing shots at Richmond keeper Erica Marrocco, scoring three more times over the next eight minutes on goals by Janna Faulkner, McNish and Frederick.

The Duquesne defensive unit of Tiny Harris, Caitlin Kistler and Mollie Montgomery held the Spiders without a shot until they scored their first goal at 18:36. Ashley Wood and Liz Fey responded to give DU their largest lead of the match 8-1 with 13:35 remaining in the first half.

With the Dukes leading 10-5, Kat McNish set up Sarah Carson for a goal with 15 second remaining until halftime. The assist was McNish's 100th of her career. DU took a 11-6 lead into halftime.

The second half was an entirely different match for both teams. Richmond opened up the half with four goals in the first three minutes to cut the Dukes' lead to 11-9. The Spiders' Allison Furstenburg and Claire Cunniff would score nine seconds apart to tie the match at 11-11 with 26:21 left.

Mandy Friend's free position shot gave UR its first lead of the match at 20:40 and Cunniff capped their 8-0 run with a goal at 16:37.

Sarah Cates' goal at 11:12 got the Dukes within one goal at 13-12. With an assist on the Cates goal, McNish surpassed Katie Harner to become Duquesne all-time assist leader.

Richmond would run down the clock to under two minutes before a Friend goal, which would be the game-winner, gave UR a 14-12 advantage with 1:40 remaining. McNish scored at 1:03 to get their Dukes within one goal, but a Cunniff goal with 26 seconds left sealed the match for the Spiders 15-13.

The Dukes fall to 4-8, 1-2 on the season. The will visit St. Bonaventure on Thursday before closing out their home schedule vs. Saint Joseph's Apr.13 and La Salle Apr. 18.

GAME NOTES
• McNish's 101 assists have come in only 45 career matches
• The Dukes are now 2-6 against the Spiders
• DU outshot UR 24-8 in the first half
• This was the fifth time this season the Dukes have had 30 or more shots