PITTSBURGH - Senior attacker Jill Vacanti (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) netted a hat trick to go with an assist, but VCU used a 5-0 second-half run to claim an 11-9 victory over the Duquesne lacrosse team in an Atlantic 10 showdown on Friday at Rooney Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED
- After taking a 4-3 lead following a goal by junior midfielder Sarah Kollhoff (Exton, Pa./Downington) late in the first half, the Dukes (3-7, 1-2 A-10) extended their edge to 5-3 early in the second half on a score by junior attackerMegan Buettner (Malvern, Pa./Great Valley).

- Duquesne held that two-goal advantage at 6-4 when Buettner found freshman attacker Michaela Connolly (Sykesville, Md./Century) for a goal with 22:40 showing on the second half clock.

- VCU answered with five straight goals to take a 9-6 lead with just over six minutes to play.

- Duquesne would fight back with two consecutive goals, the first coming from freshman midfielder Carlee Braverman (Laurel, N.J./Lenape) on a free position shot and the second on a Connolly goal with the assist from Vacanti to shrink the Rams' lead to 9-8 with 4:07 remaining.

- However, the Rams pushed their lead back to three goals at 11-8 with a pair of scores down the stretch, before sophomore midfielder Maddie Hart (Sykesville, Md./Century) cut the final deficit to 11-9 with the goal off the dish by junior attacker Haley Matthai (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) in the final minute of action.

KEY STATS
- Vacanti now has 128 career goals, good for a tie for ninth in school history. She passed Katie Rekart (2008-11) who scored 127 career goals and is now tied with Lauren Dutch (1999-02) who scored 128 career goals as well. Vacanti needs seven goals to move into eighth all-time, surpassing Jessica McGarry (1997-00) (134 career goals).

- Vacanti now has a team-high 23 goals on the season for the Dukes.

- Connolly scored a pair of goals while Buettner added a goal and an assist for Duquesne.

- Hart also had a goal and an assist for the Dukes to go with three draw controls and two ground balls while Kollhoff had a goal, three draw controls and a pair of ground balls for DU.

- The Dukes held a 27-25 shooting edge and a 23-17 advantage in ground balls, but the Rams finished with 15 draw controls compared to Duquesne's seven. In addition, VCU made 10 saves in the win.

NEXT UP
- Duquesne begins a three-game road swing this Sunday, April 8 at George Mason at 1 p.m. ET. The Dukes will then travel to Philadelphia next weekend to take on La Salle (April 13) and St. Joseph's (April 15).