Youngstown, Ohio — Youngstown State's lacrosse team had two shots in the final 20 seconds to force overtime, but Duquesne held on to win 12-11 in a closely contested game at the Watson and Tressel Training Site on Wednesday evening.
In a game where the margin was within a goal for all but 14 minutes, Duquesne didn't take a multiple-score lead until going up 11-9 with 5:49 left in the fourth. Corinne Webb's fourth goal of the night gave the Dukes a 12-9 advantage with 3:45 remaining on the clock, but the Penguins made a charge in the final minutes.
Genna Cooke scored with the Penguins having a player up just 40 seconds later to cut the margin to 12-10, and a Duquesne turnover led to free position goal by Katie Grottenthaler that got YSU to within 12-11 with 2:00 left.
The Dukes controlled the draw as they looked to take time off the clock or add to their lead, but the Penguins forced their 26th turnover of the night to have one more chance at sending the contest to overtime. Duquesne, which played strong defensively all night, kept the Penguins without a shot for more than a minute until a foul gave Grottenthaler a chance in the free position with 20.7 seconds left. Grottenthaler's shot was wide, and Brooke Peck fired another opportunity with 15 seconds on the clock that was saved by Korrigan Sweeney.
The Dukes got possession, and they were able to run out the clock after Sweeney made her 10th save of the night.
Peck had a hat trick for the Penguins with three goals on five shots, and Grottenthaler and Claire Baenziger both had two goals. Lena Cox, Sami Drew, Ava Kreutzer and Cooke each had one goal.
Youngstown State outshot Duquesne 31-19, and it had 21 shots on goal compared to Duquesne's 16. The Dukes had 10 saves behind Sweeney's effort, and YSU had four saves. The Penguins had a 26-13 edge in forced turnovers and a 19-15 advantage in ground balls. Duquesne had a 17-10 lead in draw controls.
Peck scored twice in the first three-and-a-half minutes to give Youngstown State a 2-0 lead, and the Penguins also had two-goal advantages at 3-1 and 4-2 in the opening period.
YSU's final two-goal lead was at 5-3 on Peck's third score with 12:46 left in the second period, but the Penguins were shut out the rest of the half. Duquesne tied the score on a free position goal by Chelsea Evans with 1:13 on the clock, and Addison Scanlon scored with 4.4 seconds remaining to give the Dukes their first lead of the night at 6-5.
Lena Cox tied the game at 6-6 after picking up a ground ball and scoring at the 12:17 mark of the third, and YSU's final lead came on a free position goal by Baenziger with a player up with 10:25 on the clock. Duquesne scored twice within a minute's span to go up 8-7 with 8:11 remaining, and the visitors' lead was 9-8 heading into the fourth.
Cox assisted on Drew's goal that tied the contest at 9-9 with 11:33 remaining on the fourth-quarter clock, but YSU did not score again until Cooke's goal that started the late run with 3:05 left.
Youngstown State will continue its season-opening homestand by hosting St. Bonaventure at noon on Saturday inside the WATTS. The game will be broadcast live on the YSUsports YouTube channel.
