PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne lacrosse team withstood a late push to hold on for a 19-15 win over Youngstown State Monday evening in the home opener at Rooney Field.
 
The Dukes (1-1) were led by a trio of four-goal scorers. Sam King (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) posted four goals and one assist, while both Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) and Tina St. Clair (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) finished with four goals.
 
Alana Piano (Brockport, N.Y./Aquinas) scored three times and posted 10 draw control wins and a team-high three caused turnovers. Both Jillian Caroselli (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) and Emelie Curtis (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) had identical two-goal, one-assist lines.
 
Duquesne opened up a 4-0 lead barely five minutes into the contest and took a 6-2 lead into the second quarter. The Dukes appeared to be on their way to a comfortable victory when they extended their lead over the Penguins (1-1) to 12-3 with 10:53 to play in the second quarter on a goal by Curtis, but Youngstown State managed to chip into the Duquesne advantage and make the score 13-6 heading into halftime.
 
Duquesne rebuilt its lead to 15-6 on goals by Rodriguez-Shaw and Piano six minutes into the second half. After YSU answered with two goals of its own, the Dukes notched goals from Curtis and St. Clair to close out the third quarter with a 17-8 lead.
 
The Penguins scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to make the score 17-11 with 9:53 to play in the game. King brought the lead back to 19-11 with two goals in less than a minute, but the Penguins made one last push. YSU managed to score four-unanswered goals to make the game interesting, but a save by Mady Piersielak (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) during an extra-man opportunity late in the game helped the Dukes preserve the lead and claim the victory.
 
Piersielak, who was a late addition to the starting lineup, made seven saves in net to earn the victory.
 
The Dukes out-shot the Penguins 37 to 27 for the game, including a 31 to 23 edge in shots on-goal.
 
Duquesne won 21 of the 35 draw controls in the contest.
 
The Dukes will travel to take on Kent State on Friday, Feb. 18. The opening draw is set for 4 p.m. and fans can watch live here.