PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne lacrosse team battled early on, but ultimately were defeated 21-9 by A-10 preseason-favorite Massachusetts Sunday afternoon in an Atlantic 10 match at Rooney Field.
 
The Dukes (3-6, 0-2 A-10) were led by a five-goal performance from Tina St. Clair (West Chester, Pa./Rustin). It was the second five-goal game by St. Clair in the past seven days, which tied a career-high.
 
Both Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) and Emelie Curtis (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) posted two points with identical one goal, one assist lines. Kaitlin Rice (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) led the defensive efforts with three caused turnovers and four ground balls.
 
UMass (8-2, 2-0 A-10) scored first less than two minutes into the contest, but a St. Clair goal tied the game up three minutes later. The Minutewomen re-claimed the lead with nine minutes to play in the first quarter, but once again the Dukes evened the score, this time on a goal by Curtis with 7:53 left in the first quarter.
 
Massachusetts took command of the contest with 11-straight goals, until a St. Clair marker with 45 seconds left in the first half ended the run and made the score 13-3 at halftime.
 
Rodriguez-Shaw scored on the Dukes first possession of the second half to make the score 13-4. After UMass rebuilt its lead to 15-4, St. Clair netted three of the game's next four goals to pull Duquesne back within nine at 16-7 as the game headed into the fourth quarter.
 
UMass out-scored the Dukes 4-2 in the final period to close out the game.
 
UMass out-shot the Dukes 40 to 12 on the afternoon. The Minutewomen won 25 of the 32 draw controls in the game.
 
Duquesne made its shots count when they took them. Only one Duquesne shot did not find the back of the net.
 
St. Clair now leads the Dukes with 21 goals on the season.
 
The Dukes will hit the road on Friday, April 1 when they travel to Richmond for another A-10 contest. The match will begin around 4 p.m. and broadcast on ESPN+.