The Duquesne lacrosse team will travel to Virginia for a pair of matches this weekend against Richmond and VCU.
 
The Dukes will visit Richmond on Friday, April 1 at 4 p.m. to take on the Spiders, before closing out the trip on Sunday, April 3 at 1 p.m. versus VCU. Both matches will broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
THE SERIES vs. RICHMOND
The Dukes and Spiders, who met every year at least once between 2002 and 2019, are playing for the first time since the 2019 A-10 Quarterfinals. Richmond ended Duquesne's season with a 20-8 win in Fairfax in that contest.
 
Richmond leads the all-time series 16-7 and has won each of the past five meetings. The last time the Dukes defeated the Spiders was a come-from-behind 7-6 overtime win at Rooney Field in 2016.
 
THE SERIES vs. VCU
The Rams and Dukes are meeting for the fifth time in the series and first time since 2019. VCU has won three of the four games against Duquesne, including each of the past three.
 
The Dukes lone victory in the series was a 12-10 win at Rooney Field in 2016.
 
SCOUTING THE DUKES

• Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw earned her second Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week award this past Tuesday.
• She posted five goals with one assist and scooped up three ground balls in games against St. Joe's and UMass - the two teams selected atop the league's preseason poll.
• In the team's 11-7 loss to Saint Joseph's, Rodriguez-Shaw matched a season-high with four goals and assisted on another.
• Rodriguez-Shaw ranks second on the team and 10th in the A-10 with 20 goals this season.
• She also has dished out a team-high six assists to total a team-best 26 points, while starting all nine games. Rodriguez-Shaw also ranks second on the team with 19 draw controls.
• As a team, the Dukes rank eighth in Division I and second in the A-10 with 10.78 caused turnovers per game.
• They also lead the league and rank sixth in the NCAA with 20.22 ground balls per game.
• Tina St. Clair leads the team and ranks ninth in the A-10 with 21 goals.
• St. Clair matched a career-high with five goals in games versus Butler and UMass this season.
• Sam King is third on the team with 19 goals. The true-freshman scored a season-high four times in games against Youngstown State and Ohio State.
• King has a shot percentage of 65.5 percent, which ranks fourth in the nation.
• Mackenzie Leszczynski, who is also a true-freshman, was named the A-10 Defensive Player of the Week on March 22.
• She scored four goals while scooping three ground balls, winning seven draw controls and forcing four turnovers in a Dukes win over Butler to earn the nod.
• Alana Piano leads the team with 21 caused turnovers, 28 ground balls and 24 draw controls.
• Her 2.33 caused turnovers per game leads the A-10 and ranks sixth in Division I, while her 3.11 ground balls per game lead the A-10 and rank 10th in the nation.
• Piano has also chipped in 13 goals on the season to slot fourth on the Dukes.
• Corinne Desrosiers is in her fourth season at the helm of the Duquesne program.
• The Dukes were picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll.

 
SCOUTING THE SPIDERS

• Richmond is 8-2 on the season and opened A-10 play with wins over La Salle and George Washington last weekend.
• Both of Richmond's losses have come to teams ranked among the IWLCA Top 25 (Virginia & James Madison).
• The Spiders have the top defense (9.70 goals per game) and the top draw control percentage (56.5 percent) in the A-10.
• Richmond leads the A-10 and ranks fifth in the NCAA with 8.30 assists per game.
• Lindsey Frank leads the team and slots fifth in the A-10 with 24 goals scored.
• Arden Tierney has dished out 20 assists and ranks second in the A-10. Her 40 points this season also slots second in the league.
• Tierney also ranks third in the A-10 with 4.80 draw controls per game.
• Goalie Delaney Galvin ranks second in the A-10 and ninth in Division I with a 51.4 save percentage.
• Anne Harrington is serving as the team's interim head coach this season. She has been with the Spiders for the past five seasons as an assistant.
• The Spiders were picked to finish third in the A-10 Preseason Coaches' Poll.

 
SCOUTING THE RAMS

• VCU enters the weekend at 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the league standings. The Rams will travel to UMass on Friday ahead of their match with the Dukes on Sunday.
• The Rams opened A-10 play last weekend with a win over George Mason, before falling to La Salle 12-11 on Sunday.
• VCU leads the NCAA with a save percentage of 54.3 percent, thanks largely to the play of goalie Meghna Dawar.
• Dawar is the national leader with a save percentage of 55.4 percent and ranks second in the country with 13.11 saves per game. Her 118 saves this season is third in Division I.
• Offensively, Kelsey McDonnell ranks sixth in the A-10 with 23 goals scored.
• Leah Spalding slots eighth in the league with 1.33 caused turnovers per game.
• Nicole Flores is in her first season as head coach. She spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Stanford.
• VCU was picked to finish sixth in the A-10 Preseason Coaches' Poll.

 
NEXT UP
Duquesne will travel to North Carolina to take on Davidson on Friday, April 8 at 6:30 p.m., before returning home on Sunday, April 10 to take on La Salle on Senior Day at 2 p.m.