PITTSBURGH (2/24/2024) -- Senior
Cat Kopchia and sophomore
Libby Cuckler each scored two goals, but a late Duquesne run was the difference as the University of Detroit Mercy women's lacrosse team fell, 13-7, to the Dukes on Saturday afternoon.
Kopchia also added a ground ball, caused turnover and a draw control. Senior
Sarah Meek tallied a career-high three caused turnovers and five ground balls, while junior
Meredith Leavell posted 13 saves.
Junior
Maddy Camm registered two caused turnovers, two draw controls, two ground balls, and scored a goal and junior
Leah Bodnar recorded two caused turnovers, two draw controls, and also found the back of the net.
Sophomore
Alyssa Jarvis added a goal, two assists and three draw controls. Senior
Abby Schillinger pulled down a team-high four draw controls and Vergara finished with a career-best two assists, a career-high three GB's, a draw control, and a caused turnover.
The Titans (0-2) saw Duquesne (3-1) take a 7-3 lead in the third when Kopchia took advantage of the extra attacker and scored just two minutes into the period. Later on, senior
Cecelia Vergara forced a takeaway and that led to a goal from Bodnar to cut it to 7-6 with 7:01 left. Nearly two minutes later, Meek picked up a ground ball and found Vergara, who set up Cuckler's first strike of the game to trim the deficit to just one, 7-6, with 5:28 remaining.
From there, the Dukes would score six in a row before Cuckler's man-up marker with a minute left.
Detroit Mercy will be back in action on Monday as the Titans head to ACC country with a match-up at Pittsburgh.
Game Notes:
- Duquesne leads the all-time series, 9-0, including 5-0 at home
- The Titans registered double-digit caused turnovers just four times last season
- Meek's previous high in caused turnovers was one on four separate occasions, while her previous high in ground balls was two against Akron in 2022
- Vergara had just one career assist coming into the contest
- Kopchia has six goals through two games and now has 94 points on 67 goals and 27 assists, 10th in school history with those helpers
- Camm had at least one caused turnover in 10 games and multiple in five last season and has started the year with two straight games with a takeaway
- Leavell now has 12 career games with double-digit saves
- Leavell is currently fifth in school history with 224 saves and 8.22 saves per game, third with a .431 save percentage and fourth with a 14.19 goals-against average
