PITTSBURGH – Led by a season-high five goals from Tina St. Clair (West Chester, Pa./Rustin), the Dukes erased a second-half deficit to earn a 19-16 win over Butler Sunday at Rooney Field.
 
St. Clair matched a career-high in goals and also added two assists to record seven points in the win. Freshman Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) scored four goals and assisted on another, while classmate Mackenzie Leszczynski (Flourtown, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh) finished with four goals, four caused turnovers, three ground balls and seven draw controls.
 
The Dukes clung to a 3-2 lead through the first period and eventually took a 7-5 lead on St. Clair's third goal of the afternoon with 9:01 to play until halftime. Butler went on to out-score Duquesne 6-1 to close out the first half and to send the Dukes into the locker room trailing 12-8.
 
Butler took its largest lead of the game with a goal in the opening minute of the third quarter that pushed the tally to 12-8. Duquesne responded with a run of its own to rally back. The Dukes scored six of the next eight goals to tie the game at 14-14 after three quarters played.
 
Alana Piano (Brockport, N.Y./Aquinas) gave Duquesne the lead at two minutes into the fourth quarter, before St. Clair added another to make the score 16-14 with 10:23 to play in the contest. Butler drew back within one goal at 15-14, but the Dukes never allowed them to get any closer.
 
Rodriguez-Shaw scored a woman-down goal near the five-minute mark and scored again just over a minute later to push the lead to 18-15. Butler scored once more but the Dukes shut the door in the final two minutes to earn the win.
 
Duquesne out-shot Butler 36 to 28 and were 24 of 27 on clear attempts. The Dukes successfully cleared the ball on all 15 second-half attempts.
 
Duquesne will host open Atlantic 10 play on Friday, March 25 when it hosts Saint Joseph's. The contest will begin at 4 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN+.