Pittsburgh, Pa. - A late push gave Duquesne University a 14-7 victory over Robert Morris University women's lacrosse Wednesday evening at Rooney Field. A tight back and forth battle early on showed the Colonials speed and strength but the hot start to each half fizzled and the Dukes took advantage.

Pittsburgh native Emily Jamison opened the scoring for the Colonials off a pass by Corey Karwacki just 52 seconds into the game. Duquesne answered at 27:30 with a tally by Macy Marafioti. The Dukes made it 2-1 at 23:37. Kaelin Shaw took the pass from Marafioti and popped the ball home.

Jamison picks up her second point of the game on an assist, passing from behind the net to a cutting Katie Breeze who fires home her first goal of the season, tying the game 2-2. Jamison takes care of business herself just 11 seconds later, putting the Colonials ahead 3-2 eight minutes into the game.

Jill Vacanti ties the game for the Dukes with a free position goal at the 20:57 mark. Shaw scored her second goal of the game 16 seconds later to regain a one-goal Duquesne lead.

Jamison continued to have a hand in each scoring play, dishing a smooth pass through traffic to find Brittany Byerly in front of the net for her first goal of the season, tying the game 4-4.
 

Vacanti puts the Dukes ahead with her second goal of the game, scoring a free position goal coming off the left dot, one of the newly implemented dots behind the goal line. Twenty seconds later, Marafioti picks up her second goal of the game to make it 6-4 Duquesne. Tess Drotar makes it a four-goal Dukes lead scoring two consecutive goals, the first at 15:35 and second on a free position shot at 10:47.

Robert Morris trailing 8-4 but able to maintain control of the ball on a lengthy possession, eventually coming away with a pair of free position attempts. The first by Breeze, not taken, but resulting in an opportunity for the Colonials. Jessica Karwacki was fouled, but her free position shot was blocked away and the Dukes took control, capturing the ground ball.

At the other end, Sarah Arnold picked up her second save of the game holding the Dukes at bay. With just under three minutes to play in the first half, Arnold makes another save and Jessica Karwacki battles her way up the field, eventually scooping up the ground ball and completing the clear. The Colonials unable to capitalize on a minute-long possession after the clear as Duquesne caused a turnover. The teams traded turnovers in the final thirty seconds of the half but neither team was able to create a scoring chance.

Duquesne held an 8-4 lead at halftime, leading the Colonials in ground balls 14-9 and shots 13-10. Arnold made 3 saves in the first half, five total in the game.

It took just 67 seconds for the Colonials to get on the board in the second half. Jessica Karwacki drove up the right side and snapped a shot home to cut the deficit to three. Karwacki scored her second of the game at the 20:47 mark to make it a two-goal game as the snow started to fly in Pittsburgh.
 

The Robert Morris defense held Duquesne off the board for the first 15:47 of the second half. The Dukes took a 9-6 lead with Haley Matthai's first goal of the season. Vacanti completed a hat trick less than four minutes later. Meredith Micho picked up her first tally of the season, pushing Duquesne's lead to five. Vacanti picked up her fourth goal at the 8:59 mark giving the Dukes a 12-6 advantage.

Dominique Zigo broke a 13:40 scoreless streak with her first goal of the game, a shot up the middle cutting the RMU deficit to five as the Colonials attempted to rally with 7:04 remaining. Dana Davis rang a shot off the post with 3:30 left in the game. Maggie Stella had a free position attempt stopped by Dukes goalkeeper Jenna Bishop with less than 2:30 to play.

Dukes sophomore Vacanti scored her fifth of the game to push the Duquesne lead back to six with 1:51 to play. Sarah Kollhoff netted her first career goal with 35 seconds remaining to give the Dukes their largest lead of the game and a 14-7 win.

Jamison finished the game as the Colonials leading scorer with two goals and two assists.

"She really brought some leadership to that side of the ball," Head Coach Katy Phillips said after the game. "I think she was really pumped for the game; crosstown rivalry and she's a Pittsburgh kid."

"We put some emphasis on her needing to move the ball and command the offense. She definitely showed up to do that today."
 

After the Dukes scored to make it an 8-4 game, the Colonials defense held them scoreless for a stretch of 26 minutes and 34 seconds. Jessica Karwacki scored twice in that span early in the second half, to cut the Duquesne lead to two.

"We had some great defensive stands," said Phillips, "but I think where we faltered was, we got tired, got a little sloppy, let some balls go and we didn't turn some great defensive stops into points on the board."

Jessica Karwacki had 9 draw controls, helping Robert Morris to a 14-9 advantage. Despite several sustained possessions, the Colonials were outshot 25-21 and committed 24 turnovers.

"I think we're working on understanding the momentum of possession," said Phillips. "We had these great sets, but when we had the opportunity, we still weren't going at full speed and that makes getting a shot off a lot harder."

"The exciting part is, the things we have to work on are definitely things that can be improved. We showed a lot of great moments but we need to work on converting. Committing 24 turnovers in a game is not a way to win games."

Robert Morris returns to action on Friday, February 26 at 3:00pm in the Colonials home opener against Niagara University.