PITTSBURGH -- The Duquesne University lacrosse team welcomes La Salle to town on Saturday for its annual Morgan's Message Game.

GAMEDAY INFO
April 13, 2024 | 12:00 PM | Arthur J. Rooney Field (Pittsburgh, PA)

Duquesne Dukes (6-7, 1-5 A-10)

• Streak: L4 | Roster | Stats | Schedule 

La Salle Explorers (2-9, 0-6 A-10)

• Streak: L7 | Roster | Stats | Schedule 

GAMEDAY LINKS

• WATCH LIVE ON ESPN+
• LIVE STATS
• DUQ GAME NOTES
• MORGAN'S MESSAGE

SERIES HISTORY (Duquesne leads 17-8)

• Last Meeting: Apr. 15, 2023 at LAS - W, 21-12
• First Meeting: Apr. 26, 1998 at DUQ - L, 16-17
• Streak: W2
• Home/Away Record: (H) 10-3 / (A) 7-5
• Notes: Duquesne has won by nine goals in each of the last two meetings ... The Dukes have won four of five since 2019 and six of the last 10 matchups ... DU has scored 10+ in 22 of the 25 meetings, including nine straight since 2015.

LAST TIME OUT

• Duquesne dropped an Atlantic 10 matchup against Massachusetts, 20-7, on Saturday.
• The Minutewomen jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led 13-2 at the half, cruising to victory to stay unbeaten (6-0) in A-10 play.
• Tristen Chang and Emelie Curtis had two goals apiece to lead the Dukes. Chang paced the offense with a season-high seven shots with five on goal.
• Haley Reeck, Corinne Webb, and Mackenzie Leszczynski all added a goal each. Leszczynski has now scored in 12 straight games. The Dukes scored the final three goals of the game and held UMass off the board for the final 10-plus minutes.
• Gracin Emerson and Jillian Caroselli were credited with an assist each.
• Sophomore Mia Failla and junior Hanna Pawela led all players on defense with three caused turnovers. Failla's mark was a career-best.

PAWELA POWER

• Junior defender Hanna Pawela is second in the NCAA in caused turnovers per game (3.85) and third in ground balls per game (4.23).
• Pawela, who went over 100 career ground balls against George Mason, is one caused turnover away from 100 in her career.
• The 52 caused turnovers for Pawela this season are second-most in a single season by a Duke ... The program record for a season is 57 set by Meghan Hungate in 1998.
• She set a new DU single-game record vs. EMU with 10 CTs - it was the most by a DI player since Elizabeth Small (Sacred Heart) had 10 against Vermont on 2/28/20.
• Pawela posted her fourth game with eight or more this season vs. George Mason and is the only player in Division I to have multiple games with 8-plus CTs.
• Pawela has been named the A-10 Defensive Player of the Week twice this season ... Most recently on Mar. 5 after posting 14 GBs and 13 CTs in a 2-0 week for DU ... Her first honor was on Feb. 19 after her record 10 CTs and a career-high eight GBs vs. EMU.

CAREER MILESTONES FOR LESZCZYNSKI

• Junior Mackenzie Leszczynski recorded her 100th career point as a Duke in the win over Akron ... She is six goals away from 100 in her Dukes career.
• Leszczynski also is one draw control away from entering the top-five in Duquesne program history for career draw controls (currently at 156 - Clare Hurley (2012-15) is fifth all time with 157).

SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS

• La Salle is still in search of its first conference win of the year, entering 0-6 in A-10 play and 2-9 overall.
• Both of the Explorers wins this season have come on the road (2-4) with a season-opening 19-10 win at FDU and a 21-4 rout at Howard on Feb. 28.
• La Salle has not scored double digits in an A-10 game this season ... The closest margin of the six losses was a 12-8 decision at VCU.
• As a team, the Explorers rank fourth in the league in saves percentage (.414) ... Mary Babbage leads the team in net with eight starts and 60 saves.
• The Explorers are second nationally and lead the A-10 in free position percentage, converting 67.6% of the time from the arc.
• La Salle also is atop the A-10 in shot percentage, scoring on 47.1% of its shot attempts, but only averages 20.3 per game (10th in the A-10).

DEFENSIVE DUKES

• Duquesne ranks second nationally in caused turnovers per game (14.38) and third in ground balls per game (22.54).
• The Dukes have the top-three caused turnover games in the A-10 this season (24 vs. EMU, 20 vs. George Mason, 19 vs. UDM) ... The 24 CTs vs. EMU are tied for the second-most by a D1 team in a game this season.
• DU is the only A-10 team with multiple games recording more than 30 ground balls (35 vs. Detroit Mercy & at Radford).
• Three Dukes rank in the top 10 of the of the A-10 in caused turnovers per game (Hanna Pawela - 1st at 3.85, Casey McBride - 4th at 1.62, and Emily King - 10th at 1.23).

STAT STANDOUTS

• Mackenzie Leszczynski is in the top-five in the A-10 in four stat categories; second in shots on goal per game (4.85), third in free position percentage (.471), fifth in free position goals (0.62 per game) and sixth in shots per game (5.62) ... Leszczynski leads the team with 38 points and is the only player with double-digit goals (27) and assists (11).
• Corinne Webb, who missed the entire 2023 season with an injury, is tied with Leszczynski for the team lead with 27 goals ... Webb scored in each of the first six games and recorded her sixth hat trick of the year at GW.
• Senior Emelie Curtis ranks ninth in the A-10 with a team-high 16 assists ... Her five assists in the win over EMU were the most in a game by a Duke since March 2019, and are tied for second-most in a game by an A-10 player this year.

KING ME

• Junior midfielder Emily King, a transfer from Towson, raced in to score the game-winning goal in overtime at George Washington with less than two minutes to play in overtime for the Dukes' lone A-10 win ... Emelie Curtis forced the extra period with a free-position goal in the final seconds of regulation.
• King leads Duquesne with 43 draw controls on the season, including a career-best nine in the OT win at George Washington ... King is also sixth in the A-10 averaging 2.31 ground balls per game.

RECORDS TO NOTE

• The Dukes are 23-1 in the Desrosiers Era (since 2019) when scoring more than 15 goals ... 2-0 this season (EMU and YSU).
• DU is also 6-0 when scoring 10 goals this year.
• The Dukes have not lost a game this season (5-0) that has been decided by five goals or less.

• Dukes (1-5) tied for eighth
• Explorers (0-6) 10th place
• Full standings, click here.

• Duquesne will make the short trip to Moon Township to take on Robert Morris for its non-conference finale on Tuesday night at 7 pm.