New York, NY - The La Salle University men's soccer team will make its third appearance in the Atlantic 10 Tournament in school history after a must win 2-0 shut out of Fordham today, Saturday, November 06, 2004.

Freshman Ryan Dougherty (Wilmington, DE/Salesianum) scored both goals for the Explorers in the victory. Both goals came in the second half, the game winner was off a free kick from fellow freshman Mike Lehr (Carlisle, PA/Carlisle) at the 73:01 mark.

Dougherty then notched an insurance goal less then two minutes later. Junior Josh France (Wilmington, DE/Salesianum) took a corner kick for the Explorers and found freshman Andrew Perez (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) who knocked the ball to Dougherty for the 2-0 lead.

La Salle held on to the lead behind a defense led by senior co-captain Stash Graham (Tampa, FL/Jesuit) who recorded his sixth shut out of the season and the 21st of his career. Fellow senior co-captain Kevin Coleman (Media, PA/Penncrest) also recorded a defensive save in the victory, aiding Graham to the seventh shut out of the season for the La Salle defense.

The win today guaranteed a spot in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. This is the first time that the Explorers are going to the tournament since the 1997 season when La Salle fell to Dayton 1-0 in the conference championship game. The Explorers also appeared in the 1996 A-10 Tournament, and dropped a 3-2 decision to Fordham in the semifinals.

The tournament kicks off Thursday, November 11 at George Washington. Duquesne, Dayton and Temple were guaranteed A-10 tournament berths prior to the final weekend of the regular season. Rhode Island defeated Massachusetts last evening to secure a berth and George Washington will face Richmond this evening. The Colonials need to win or tie in order to make it to the tournament, a loss ties them with the Minutemen, in which case Massachusetts would enter the tournament.