Philadelphia, PA - The La Salle Explorers faced a Towson Tiger team on Wednesday afternoon at McCarthy Stadium that boasts a school best season record of 11-3 coming in to the contest. In the end, La Salle fell victim to the Tigers with a 20-11 loss, falling to 3-10 overall, while Towson added another win to stand at 12-3.
La Salle freshman Catie Borneman (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) notched the first goal of the game just 28 seconds in to the contest to give the Explorers what turned out to be their only lead of the game.
Towson's Caitlin Marshall (Ellicott City, MD/Centennial) tied the score on an unassisted goal at the 3:17 mark to tie the score at 1-1. Senior Amy Middleton's (Morton, PA/Ridley) goal after 6:05 of play gave the Tigers the lead at 2-1 and never looked back. Becky Trumbo (Eldersburg, MD/Liberty) was next up for Towson scoring at 7:04, followed by Kelly Fitzgerald (Camilus, NY/West Genessee) and Kerin Boghosian (Garden City, NY/Gaden City) who netted goals at 9:02 and 9:30 to push Towson's lead to 5-1.
Junior Erin Cayea (Syracuse, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) knocked in back-to-back goals at 12:01 and 12:35 to extend Towson's lead further to 7-1. Abby Giancola (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) put the Tigers up 8-1 at 13:41 on an unassisted goal.
La Salle then made a comeback, when Kristen Davis (Folsom, PA/Ridley) connected on passes from Kate Henwood (Glen Mills, PA/Garnett Valley) at 16:58 and Tiffany Grossi (Ridley Park, PA/Ridley) at 17:47 to close the gap to 8-3. Sophomore Nicole Sunderland (Lansdowne, PA/Upper Darby) brought the score to 8-4 with 7:58 remaining in the first half.
Trumbo snapped La Salle's scoring streak with 3:08 left in the half before
La Salle's Grossi scored for the Explorers with five seconds remaining before the break to set the halftime score at 9-5.
After the break, Marshall posted her second goal of the game for Towson after 56 seconds of play. La Salle's Rebecca Boudwin (Springfield, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) got help from Kristie O'Donnell (Gibbsboro, NJ/Eastern Regional) at the 31:26 mark of the game and then Boudwin followed with a solo goal at 32:38 to bring La Salle to within three at 10-7.
Towson then scored four straight goals between 33:03 an 38:56 before La Salle responded with two Davis goals on free position shots at 41:51 and 42:41. Towson got additional help from Shannon Witzel (Pottstown, PA/Pottstown) with her second goal at 44:16 followed by Trumbo just 22 seconds later. Sunderland scored again for La Salle with 13:50 remaining in the contest.
Between 47:08 and 48:15 the Tigers netted goals by Marshall, Cayea, Witzel.
La Salle's Borneman closed out La Salle's scoring with 9:24 left to play. Towson's Fitzgerald logged the last goal of the game with 1:12 remaining.
The Explorers will be back in action on Sunday, April 25th when they close out the 2004 home season against Atlantic 10 opponent Massachusetts. Seniors Tracy Guenther (Willow Grove, PA/Upper Moreland), Maureen Flynn (Fairfax, VA/Paul VI), Kim Sheridan (Willow Grove, PA/Upper Moreland), and Laura Whitman (Philadelphia, PA/St. Hubert) will be honored prior to the 11:00 a.m. start.
