Pittsburgh, PA - The La Salle Explorers dropped another Atlantic 10 contest, this time over host Duquesne Friday afternoon on Rooney Field. The win marked Duquesne's sixth straight and puts the squad at 13-3 overall 6-1 in the Atlantic 10. The victory gives Duquesne a share of the A-10 regular-season championship title with Temple (9-7, 6-1). La Salle now stands at 3-12 overall and 0-6 in conference play.
Duquesne notched its first goal of the game after 59 seconds of play and never looked back. The Dukes Laura App (Silver Spring, MD/Our Lady of Good Counsel) scored Duquesne's first two goals, the second coming at the 2:32 mark. Kelly Mulford (Lutherville, MD/Maryvale Prep) got into the action next, scoring Duquesne's next two goals at 3:41 and 5:37 to give the Dukes a 4-0 advantage. Duquesne then went on to score six more unanswered goals.
With 2:40 remaining in the half, La Salle freshman Tiffany Grossi (Ridley Park, PA/Ridley) broke the scoring drought for the Explorers on an unassisted goal. Sophomore Nicole Sunderland (Lansdowne, PA/Upper Darby) connected on a pass from Grossi with two seconds remaining in the first half to bring the half-time score to 10-2.
After the break, Duquesne's Dourtney Tamasitis (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) snapped the Explorers' run just 1:02 into the second half. The Explorers rebounded with a free position goal from senior Kim Sheridan (Willow Grove, PA/Upper Moreland) at the 35:01 mark of the game, followed by back-to-back goals by junior Rebecca Boudwin (Springfield, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) at 36:59 and then at 41:20 off a pass from Leah Wheeler (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) to bring the score to 11-5.
That was as close as the Explorers would get, as Duquesne scored the four goals before freshman Catie Borneman (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) scored on a free position shot with 5:33 to play, followed by Sunderland's second goal of the contest with 1:52 remaining in the game.
The Explorers will play their final game of the 2004 season on Sunday when they visit St. Bonaventure at 12:00 p.m.
