PITTSBURGH -- The Duquesne University lacrosse team will begin its Atlantic 10 Conference slate on Saturday, hosting nationally ranked Richmond at Rooney Field.

GAMEDAY INFO
March 9, 2024 | 12:00 PM | Arthur J. Rooney Field (Pittsburgh, PA)

#23 Richmond Spiders (4-2, 0-0 A-10)

• Streak: L2 | Roster | Stats | Schedule 

Duquesne Dukes (5-2, 0-0 A-10) 

• Streak: L1 | Roster | Stats | Schedule 

GAMEDAY LINKS

• LIVE STATS
• DUQ GAME NOTES
• RICH GAME NOTES

SERIES HISTORY

• Richmond leads 18-7
• Last Meeting: Apr. 29, 2023 at RICH - L, 20-4
• First Meeting: Apr. 12, 2002 at DUQ - L, 17-5
• Streak: L7
• Home/Away Record: (H) 4-6 / (A) 3-10 / (N) 0-2

LAST TIME OUT

• Duquesne had its five-game win streak snapped on Tuesday afternoon, falling 14-5 at Queens University Charlotte.
• The Dukes outshot the Royals 33-29 and 20-19 on goal, but a career-high 14 saves by Queen's starting goalkeeper made the difference.
• Duquesne scored first with a goal by Mackenzie Leszczynski on DU's first possession of the game, but Queens answered with a 7-0 scoring run and never looked back.
• Haley Reeck, a junior transfer from Louisville, made her first appearance in a Duquesne uniform and led the Dukes with two goals on five shots.
• Emma Raines and Jillian Caroselli added second-half scores, while Ali Evans and Tristen Chang charted assists.
• Leszczynski has now scored in six straight games ... Caroselli and Chang extended their point streaks to five and four games, respectively ... Evans, a freshman, is on a three-game point streak.

A-10 OPENERS

• Duquesne is 12-12 all-time in A-10 openers since joining the league in 1999, with a 6-3 record when the opener is at home.
• The Dukes have lost back-to-back A-10 openers (11-7 vs. St. Joseph's in 2022 and 19-7 at Davidson in 2023).
• This is the third time the A-10 slate will begin against Richmond, the previous meetings were both in Richmond and won by the Spiders (10-9 in 2011 and 20-4 in 2017).

VS. RANKED TEAMS

• Duquesne has now played a ranked team in three straight seasons.
• Since 2020, the Dukes are 0-8 against ranked opponents, with two of the losses coming at Richmond (2022 and 2023).

NATIONAL LEADER

• Junior defender Hanna Pawela leads the NCAA averaging 5.14 ground balls per game and is second at 4.43 caused turnovers per game.
• Pawela is 11 ground balls and 20 caused turnovers away from 100 in her career.
• She set a new DU single-game record vs. EMU with 10 CTs - the most by a Division I player since Elizabeth Small (Sacred Heart) had 10 against Vermont on 2/28/20.
• Pawela has three games with eight or more CTs, the only player with multiple games over seven in Division I this season.
• Pawela has been named the A-10 Defensive Player of the Week twice this season ... She is the reigning DPOW after posting 14 GBs and 13 CTs in a 2-0 effort for DU last week ... Her first honor was on Feb. 19 after her record CTs and a career-high eight GBs in the home-opening win over EMU.

SCOUTING THE SPIDERS

• Richmond enters the matchup ranked 23rd in the nation and as the preseason favorite in the A-10.
• The Spiders have suffered back-to-back losses to ranked teams (#17 Navy - 14-5 and #13/15 Virginia - 20-5) over the past week.
• Richmond began the season 4-0 averaging 17 goals scored and eight goals allowed per game before the recent skid.
• The Spiders won the A-10 Championship last season and made a run to the second round of the NCAA tournament before falling to No. 3 North Carolina (16-12).
• Attacker Colleen Quinn, midfielder Grace Muldoon, and defender Hannah Custer all were named to the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference team.
• The Spiders lost 12 players to either graduation or the transfer portal from last season's A-10 championship squad.
• Richmond has held the Dukes to single digits each of the last three meetings and averaged 19 goals ... The last Duquesne win was 2016 in overtime (7-6) at Rooney Field.

DEFENSIVE DUKES

• DU is second in Division I in both caused turnovers (15.29) and ground balls (25.14) per game.
• Duquesne has four of the top-five caused turnover games in the A-10 this season (24 vs. EMU, 19 vs. UDM, 17 at Queens, 16 vs. Akron) ... The 24 CTs vs. EMU are the second-most by a D1 team this season.
• DU is the only A-10 team with multiple games recording more than 30 ground balls (35 vs. Detroit Mercy & 34 at Radford).

STAT STANDOUTS

• Senior Emelie Curtis leads the A-10 and ranks 14th in Division I with 14 assists ... The Yardley, Pa. product has three games with three or more assists this season ... Her five assists in the win over EMU were the most in a game by a Duke since March 2019, and are tied for the most in a game by an A-10 player this year.
• Mackenzie Leszczynski is in the top-five in the A-10 in six stat categories; shots on goal (5.29/g - 2nd), points (23 - 3rd), free position percentage (.556 - 3rd), free position goals (0.71/g - 4th), shots (6.43/g - 4th), and goals scored (17 - 5th)
• Corinne Webb, who missed the entire 2023 season with an injury, has racked up a team-high 21 goals and is tied with Leszczynski for the team lead with 23 points through six games ... Both stats rank third in the A-10.
• Emily O'Donnell is fifth in the A-10 averaging 1.57 caused turnovers per game.
• As a team, DU is second in the A-10 averaging 30.42 shots and 23.43 shots on goal per game.

MAGIC NUMBER 16

• The Dukes are 23-1 in the Desrosiers Era (since 2019) when scoring more than 15 goals ... 2-0 this season (EMU and YSU).

CENTURY CLUB

• Junior Mackenzie Leszczynski recorded her 100th career point as a Duke in the win over Akron ... She currently has 84 goals and 25 assists (109 points).

STRONG START

• Duquesne started the season 5-1, the best start since starting 4-1 in 2019 (Coach Desrosiers first season) ... The five-game win streak was the longest for DU since 2014, when the Dukes won 10 in a row during a 14-4 season.
• DU's 3-1 start was just the third time (2014 & '19) with three wins in the first four games of a season since 2001.

HOME SWEET HOME

• The Dukes defended their home turf at Rooney Field with a perfect, 4-0 early-season homestand ... All four contests were against MAC members (Eastern Michigan, Youngstown State, Detroit Mercy, & Akron).

ATLANTIC 10 PRESEASON POLL

1. Richmond – 95 (6)
2. Massachusetts – 94 (4)
3. Saint Joseph's – 79
4. Davidson – 72
5. VCU – 49
6. George Washington – 48
7. St. Bonaventure – 45
8. George Mason – 28
9. Duquesne – 26
10. La Salle – 14

( ) Indicates first-place votes

UP NEXT

• Duquesne will hit the road for two straight conference road games beginning at George Washington next Saturday (Mar. 16) at 12:00 pm.

FOLLOW THE DUKES
Follow Duquesne Lacrosse all season online at GoDuquesne.com, as well as on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (@DuqLax).