Moon Township, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team hosted city rival Duquesne for a rare night contest on Saturday night.  Despite holding the lead at halftime, the Colonials would suffer their second consecutive loss this season as they fell by the score of 16-11.

Duquesne would open the scoring in the contest as the Dukes netted the first two goals of the game in opening two minutes.  The Colonials would respond with three goals of their own to take the lead.  Opening the scoring for RMU was freshman Brittany Byerly (Wexford, Pa. / Pine-Richland) who converted a free-position shot.  Four minutes would elapse before the Colonials would find the back of the net again as Emily Jamison (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Hills) tied the game with her first goal of the contest.  Robert Morris would take the lead, 3-2, with a goal by Emily VanDyne (Webster, N.Y. / Webster Thomas) that would come just over twelve minutes in to the half.

The Dukes would not stay down for long as they responded with the game-tying goal less than a minute later before adding two more goals to put the Colonials down 5-3 with less than five minutes remaining in the first half.  Over the final 3:25 of the half, Robert Morris would net four unanswered goals to hold the lead after thirty minutes of play.  Freshman Corey Karwacki (Sparks, Md. / Hereford) would start the run for the Colonials with her first goal of the evening before Kristin Yoviene (Easton, Md. / Saints Peter and Paul) tied the game just 22 seconds after Karwacki's goal.  Two goals by Jessica Rutherford (Pylesville, Md. / North Harford) in the final 78 seconds would give the advantage to the Colonials, 7-5.

Robert Morris would not be able to carry the late momentum from the first half after the intermission as Duquesne came out and picked up four goals in the first six minutes to put the Colonials down, 9-7.  VanDyne and Karwacki would each pick up their second goals of the game to tie the contest, 9-9.  After the Dukes regained the lead, Jamison would also pick up her second goal to make the score 10-10 with a little over 18 minutes remaining in the game.

The next few minutes of the game would put the Colonials in a deep hole as they allowed four goals over a span of 2:07 to fall behind 14-10.  Although Byerly would bring Robert Morris within three goals with her second goal of the night, the Colonials would be held off of the board for the final fourteen minutes while Duquesne added two more goals to make the final score 16-11.  Despite making thirteen saves in the contest, goaltender Kaitlin Pentz (Sykesville, Md. / Century) saw her record fall to 3-2 on the season. 

The Colonials return to action Tuesday evening as they travel south for a two-game road trip during spring break.  The first game of the trip sees Robert Morris take on Davidson at 6:00 p.m.