WLAX falls at home to Central Michigan

Dylan Fister | Staff Photographer | Duquesne’s Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw jostles with Central Michigan’s Jozy Allen in Tuesday’s game.

Matthew Theodros | Staff Writer

March 9, 2023

The Duquesne women’s lacrosse team lost its second-consecutive game, falling to Central Michigan 19-8 at Rooney Field on Tuesday afternoon.

The Chippewas came out of the gates with energy, making plays on the offensive and defensive end. Goalie Alexa Martel had two of her career-high 18 saves in the first minute of the game. Kendall Hoyt scored the game’s first two goals in just 2:06, giving Central Michigan an early cushion.

The Chippewas carried a 5-2 lead into the second quarter, with four of the five scores coming from Kendall and her twin sister, Kelly. Martel launched a hail-mary pass to Kelly, who found the back of the net with just seven seconds to go in the opening quarter.

Kendall finished with three goals on the same, while Kelly scored a game-best seven times.

After Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw scored her second of a team-best four goals to bring the Dukes’ deficit to one at 5-4, a 4-0 run from Central Michigan gave them a comfortable advantage.

Rodriguez-Shaw scored once more before half to make it 9-5, but an 8-1 run from the Chippewas that lasted from the start of the third quarter until the 10:50 mark of the fourth quarter helped that lead grow into double digits at 17-6.

The two squads would exchange blows twice down the stretch, with Central Michigan never letting the lead slip back into single digits.

For the Chippewas, it was their first win since defeating California in the season opener on Feb. 12. For the Dukes, it was the fifth loss in six games to kick off the season.

Duquesne Head Coach Corinne Desrosiers attributed the loss to many things, but most specifically was the lack of continuity and how her team handled it.

“Today was the first day we rolled out the new defense, and we only had three hours of practicing,” Desrosiers said. “If you saw the sidelines, we don’t have numbers. We were down seven to begin the year and we have lost three to major injuries. We didn’t have the depth to match up (with them).”

She added that her team “decided to take [Tuesday’s loss] on the chin and run a new zone” to make up for it.

“Nineteen (goals) is too much, but it was a very easy mistake we could fix,” Desrosiers said. “So we’re going to look to fix them (during) the next few days of practice.”

A similar sentiment was present around the team: bounce back, learn from the loss and improve for the next game, especially on the offensive end.

“Their goalie did a great job today against our shooting, so I think [Wednesday] and outside of practice, we all need to get together and start ripping shots,” Rodriguez-Shaw said. “We don’t have a lefty goalie, so we aren’t used to a lefty goalie, but I think we need to face all challenges with ease.”

Desrosiers also gave credit to defender Miranda Held for her on-field tenacity.

“She grinded, she was all over the field, she jammed hands and didn’t foul once.,” Desrosiers said. “She looked really, really good, and we are super proud of her.”

As for the defensive struggles, Duquesne goalie Mady Piersielak spoke on the adjustments needed to bounce back moving forward.

“Starting the new zone this week, we need to watch film and see how we got beat,” Piersielak said. “Working on it really hard in practice, and just keeping a positive mindset leading into the conference (season).”

The Dukes will begin the Atlantic 10 Conference portion of their schedule on Saturday afternoon, when they take on Davidson in a road contest.

The Wildcats have won four of their last five meetings with Duquesne, including a 10-7 victory over the Dukes in the first round of last season’s conference tournament.