Panthers Fall to No. 18 Duke at Highmark Stadium

Sunday, March 26

Pittsburgh, PA

12:00 PM

Pitt

3-8, 0-5ACC

Duke

6-5, 1-4ACC

Duke

Pitt

Panthers Fall to No. 18 Duke at Highmark Stadium

3/26/2023 2:45:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score Photo Gallery

PITTSBURGH – Pitt Lacrosse faced its third consecutive ranked opponent and battled throughout before a late scoring surge by No. 18 Duke capped off a 16-8 game Sunday afternoon at Highmark Stadium. Sydney Naylor and Dylana Williams each found the back of the net twice for the Panthers, while Hannah Van Middelem posted her fourth consecutive game with 10 or more saves.

Naylor scored the opening goal by working to the left wing from behind the cage and beating Duke goalie high side at the 13:55 mark. Pitt extended the lead to 2-0 at the 5:53 as Camdyn O'Donnell took a pass from Molly Carter and split a pair of defenders before bouncing home her 15^th goal of the season.

Duke chipped away with a Lexi Schmalz free position goal with 4:03 left in the quarter and tied the game up at 2-2 29 seconds later on a Katie DeSimone quick stick finish. Schmalz added another free position goal at the 2:13 mark and DeSimone converted a late turnover into her second goal of the game and a 4-2 Blue Devil advantage after one quarter.

DeSimone continued the run at the 13:29 mark completing her hat trick by scooping up a loose ball in front of the cage and flinging a shot over her back shoulder into the upper edge of the cage. The Blue Devils added a man-up goal off another free position attempt at the 10:03 mark to pull ahead 6-2.

Pitt stopped the six-goal run with a man-up finish from Ava Washington off a Naylor feed to get to the second quarter media timeout trailing 6-3. Naylor added another Pitt goal at the 4:48 mark beating a Duke defender behind the cage and wrapping around the left side of the crease to beat the keeper with a sidearm finish.

Eva Greco tacked on a free position man-up goal at the 1:42 mark to give the Blue Devils a 7-4 advantage. Emily Coughlin collected her 10^th goal of the season just before the break to send Pitt into halftime trailing 7-5.

Duke took advantage of an 8-1 edge in free position attempts in the opening 30 minutes scoring four of its seven goals from the arc. The Blue Devils were able to sustain position with a 10-4 lead in draw controls, but Hannah Van Middelem collected eight saves in goal for the Panthers to keep the home team within striking distance.

Duke opened the second half scoring with a snipe from Anna Callahan from just inside the arc at the 13:26 mark. DeSimone added a goal off a feed from Greco behind the cage to extend the Blue Devil lead to 9-5 3:30 into the third quarter. DeSimone assisted on a Maddie Jenner at the 9:10 mark and the Blue Devils added a free position goal with just over two minutes left in the quarter to extend the Blue Devil run.

Williams stopped the Duke surge with a near post goal at the 1:19 mark to pull the Panthers within 11-6. Pitt was plagued by five turnovers and a 10-3 shot disadvantage in the third quarter.

Jenna Hendrickson matched an early fourth quarter Duke goal with a late shot clock rip at the 11:18 mark for her eighth goal of the season and sixth in the past two games. Williams added another near post goal off a dodge from the top of the circle with 8:40 remaining as the Panthers continued to battle back.

Duke took advantage of a scrambling Pitt defense to tack on four goals late in the contest with Greco scoring three times in the final six minutes.

The Blue Devils outshot Pitt 38-18 for the contest, including a 20-6 edge in the second half. Duke was also 6-of-11 on free position attempts with the Panthers getting just two attempts off the circle.

Schmalz paced Duke with five goals, while DeSimone and Greco each netted four goals for the Blue Devils who improved to 6-5 on the season and 1-4 in the ACC.

TOUGH AS NAYLs
Sydney Naylor recorded her fifth multi-goal game of the season finishing the day with three points on two goals and one assist. She has now recorded 8 points (4G, 4A) over the past three games for the Panthers.

THREE STRAIGHT VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
Pitt played its third consecutive game against teams ranked in the top 20 or the IWLCA Polls. Despite the 0-3 results in the contests, the young Panthers squad battled throughout the stretch and were within four goals of the opposition in the fourth quarter of each of the three contests.

UP NEXT
The Panthers hosts Youngstown State Tuesday, March 28 at Highmark Stadium in the final non-conference matchup of the season.