On Saturday the Duquesne Women were in Buffalo, NY to participate in the Harvey Cup double dual with the University of Buffalo (UB), Mercyhurst University, and Eastern Michigan University (EMU) on Tonawanda Creek.

For morning racing the Dukes were against the Bulls from UB. In the 3rd Varsity Eight the line up of coxswain Amanda Booth, Sydnie Pennington, Jenna Boyd, Jessica Goldstein, Olivia Delaney, Mary Katherine Byrne, Olivia Szallai, Shelby Rocco, and Taylor Staub crossed the line first with UB 10 seconds behind. The 2nd Varsity Four of Kaitlyn Clem, Nicole Wozniak, Margot Gagen, Maureen O'Brien and coxswain Rachel Mowatt also saw a first place finish over the four from UB with the Freshman Four of Lindsay Snodgrass, Antonia Maffia, Morgan Starczewski, Madeleine Troppe and coxswain Jean Geary following suit over UB in their event. The Varsity Four of Victoria Snyder, Lindsay Wyllie, Mary Kate Keenoy, Emily Ames and coxswain Grace Hindes battled the length of the course, but fell to UB while finishing ahead of the four from EMU that joined their race. The Second Varsity Eight of coxswain Caroline Dirr, Lauren Turner, Rachel Swain, Meredith Starczewski, Anne Stevens, Samantha Dunn, Cassandra Holder, Marianna Manfredi, and Alison Kane also fell to UB. The Varsity Eight of coxswain Faith Caldiero, Courtney Purslow, Alexandra Watts, Lauren Hughes, Hannah Mazur, Julia Borsari, Emily Herzig, Gretchen Swabe, and Serena Benages won a tight battle over UB by just 3 seconds to close out the morning.

After a small break the Dukes had some boats race again against Buffalo while the varsity eights faced Mercyhurst. The Third Varsity Eight of coxswain Amanda Booth, Sydnie Pennington, Olivia Delaney, Samantha Dunn, Antonia Maffia, Mary Katherine Byrne, Madeleine Troppe, Morgan Starczewski, and Jessica Goldstein once again came out on top of the 3V8 from UB. The Second Varsity Four of Mary Kate Keenoy, Nicole Wozniak, Margot Gagen, Maureen O'Brien and coxswain Rachel Mowatt also finished over UB. The Second Varsity Eight had the opportunity to go against the second eight from Mercyhurst and finished first (coxswain Caroline Dirr, Meredith Starczewski, Rachel Swain, Anne Stevens, Cassandra Holder, Victoria Snyder, Lindsay Wyllie, Lauren Turner, and Alison Kane). The Varsity Eight retained its line up from morning racing and battles the course with the varsity eight from Mercyhurst. Mercyhurst came out on top less than 3 seconds over the Dukes. The final race of the day for the Dukes saw the Varsity Four of Lindsay Snodgrass, Jenna Boyd, Kaitlyn Clem, Emily Ames, and coxswain Grace Hindes finishing third behind the fours from UB and EMU.

Full results are available on www.Row2K.com.

On Sunday the Dukes were in Morgantown, WV for a scrimmage with WVU. The line-ups for the varsity eight and second varsity eight remained the same from Saturday afternoon through Sunday. The line-up in the varsity four, third varsity eight, and freshman/novice eight were altered a few times to maximize preparation for practices moving forward to the Atlantic-10 Championship in two short weeks.

West Virginia is great competition for our team right now. Based on the results from the Knecht Cup Regatta last weekend the scrimmage was going to provide tight racing opportunities for all of our boats. Completing multiple short pieces throughout the day allowed for changes to be made where coaches felt necessary to better align our team to where we want to be heading into the final races of our season. Due to weather we missed a week of water time prior to this weekend. The format of racing and piecing for the weekend really allowed the team to transfer their work off the water right into the boat and see how it positively affected us. We can now jump back into water practices at home ready to prepare for our Championship.

The Dukes next event is the Atlantic 10 Championship on Saturday, May 2.