PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The Duquesne University women's lacrosse team scored a season-high 21 goals and had four players record a hat trick, as the Dukes rolled to a 21-12 victory over La Salle to pick up their first conference win of the season Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
 
Mackenzie Leszczynski led all scorers with five goals, on five shots, and dished out a career-high four assists totaling nine points, also a career-best. She also scooped a team-leading three ground balls.
 
Freshmen Chloe Holmes and Chelsea Evans fired in four goals each, while senior Jillian Caroselli posted her third hat trick of the season with three scores.
 
Evans added an early career-high three assists for seven points and Caroselli dished out one, as the Dukes charted a season-high eight assists and 29 points as a team. Evans paced the Red and Blue's shooting efforts with 11 and seven on goal. Duquesne tied a season-high with 27 shots on goal, outshooting the Explorers by five on target.
 
Lydia Toparli drained a free position goal with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter, then added another on a rebound at the six-minute mark in the fourth.
 
Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw dealt with a stingy defense all day, seemingly dedicated to stopping the A-10 leading goal scorer, but was still able to net two goals. Her teammates stepped up handling the offense, but Rodriguez-Shaw was still a key factor in the midfield and was able to find the back of the net twice in the fourth quarter. With 13 and a half minutes to play, Rodriguez-Shaw got a step on her defender and placed it in the top corner, then put DU up to 20 goals with 5:27 remaining off an assist from Evans.
 
Emelie Curtis scored her sixth goal of the season, one-timing a pass from Evans on a fast break at the 8:18 mark in the second period to put Duquesne up 6-3, just nine seconds after the Explorers scored.
 
Leszczynski got the Dukes going early with seven of her nine points coming in the first half, as she netted four goals and had three assists in the opening 30 minutes.
 
Duquesne took advantage of its free position attempts, converting on five of seven trips, and Toparli rebounded and scored on another, while the defense held the Explorers to a 2-for-5 effort from the FP.
 
Each side scored twice in the opening 15 minutes, but that was not a preview of what was to come. Goal after goal after goal followed, as the teams combined for 13 second quarter scores, nine in the third, and seven in the fourth.
 
Duquesne took control of the match with a 7-1 spurt to start the second frame, going up 9-3 at the 6:22 mark, and never trailed after that.
 
La Salle fought back with five straight goals to close the first half bringing the score to 9-8 Dukes at the break.
 
Holmes came from behind the net and dropped in her second score of the day just over a minute into the second half, then Evans followed with a pair of unassisted goals to rebuild the DU lead to four (12-8) at the 12-minute mark in the third quarter.
 
The Explorers came within two scores two minutes later, but back-to-back free position goals from Leszczynski and Toparli got the Dukes advantage right back to four.
 
Holmes notched her hat trick with 41 seconds left in the third answering a La Salle goal and Duquesne closed out the match with a 6-1 fourth quarter to claim the nine-goal win.
 
Mady Piersielak and Megan LaBorne played 30 minutes each in goal for DU and tallied five saves apiece.
 
Leszczynksi's nine points and four assists were the most in a game by any Duke this season, while the nine points are tied for the eighth-most in a game in program history.
 
Duquesne returns to Rooney Field next Saturday (April 22) for its home finale and Senior Day against George Washington. First draw is scheduled for noon.
 
Follow Duquesne Lacrosse all season online at GoDuquesne.com, as well as on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (@DuqLax).