RICHMOND, Va. – The Dukes were handed a 17-8 loss at No. 22 Richmond Friday afternoon in an Atlantic 10 game at Robins Stadium.
 
Duquesne (3-7, 0-3 A-10), which has now faced each of the top-three teams in the Preseason A-10 Coaches' Poll, were led by a career-best four goals by Ciara Curtis (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker). Curtis, who's first goal in the game was also her first-collegiate goal, also won a trio of draw controls for the Dukes.
 
Same King (Newburyport, Mass./Newburyport) added two goals, while both Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) and Alana Piano (Brockport, N.Y./Aquinas) posted identical two-point lines with a goal and an assist. Piano also chipped in two caused turnover and five groundballs.
 
Richmond (9-2, 3-0 A-10) struck first in the opening minute of the contest, but a goal by Rodriguez-Shaw less than two minutes later evened up the score at 1-1 with 12:44 to play in the first quarter.
 
Richmond went on to score the next three goals to put the Dukes in a 4-1 hole, before a Piano goal in the closing seconds of the first quarter made the score 4-2 after one period.
 
Curtis notched her first two goals of the afternoon in the second quarter, including an unassisted tally that made the score 8-4 with 4:44 left in the first half. Richmond created separation in the final four minutes of the second quarter with four more goals that sent the Dukes into halftime trailing 12-4.
 
Duquesne came out of the break with back-to-back goals to start the second half to make the score 12-6. King scored first, before Curtis found the back of the net less than a minute later at the 12:15-mark of the third quarter.
 
Richmond responded with another three-goal run that made the score 15-6 with eight minutes to play in the third quarter. Curtis ended the run with a nice top-shelf goal that narrow the deficit to 15-7 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
King netted another goal for the Dukes to open the fourth quarter to make the score 15-8, but the Dukes were unable to get any closer on the scoreboard.
 
Richmond held a slight edge in shots (30 to 27) and won 21 of the game's 29 draw controls.
 
Goalie Mady Piersielak (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) came on in relief in the second quarter and made six saves in just over 35 minutes in net.
 
The Dukes will make the short trip over to VCU on Sunday, April 3 to take on the Rams. The match is set to begin around 1 p.m. and will broadcast on ESPN+.