VILLANOVA, PA - The La Salle University women's lacrosse team opened the 2005 season against Colgate on Sunday at Villanova Stadium.  Originally scheduled for Saturday the game was postponed a day and moved to Villanova due to the snow.  Playing in temperatures not much above freezing, the Explorers fell to the Red Raiders 14-10 and gave Colgate its second straight win of the season.  The Red Raiders now hold a 5-1 all-time record over La Salle.

Freshman Emily Bonczek (Henriettta, NY/Rush-Henrietta) opened the 2005 scoring for the Explorers just 45 seconds into the contest.  Bonczek showed no freshman jitters, as she knocked in her second goal just 6:21 into the game followed 30 seconds later by a free position shot to net a hat trick.  She added her fourth and final goal of the game in the second half with 13:40 left to play.

Colgate answered Bonczek's first goal at 25:59 and waited until after her third goal to bring the scored 3-2 on a goal from Katie McVeigh (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge School).  La Salle went up by two goals again when sophomore Tiffany Grossi (Ridley Park, PA/Ridley) drove to the net with 20:45 left in the first half. 

The Red Raiders responded with back-to-back goals at 18:22 and 17:28 to tie the score at 4-4.  Explorer Kat Prokop (Towaco, NJ/Montville Twp.) put La Salle back up by one but that lead would be the last for the Explorers.

Colgate's Megan Janson (Morristown, NJ/Oak Knoll) connected on a pass from Kelly Winning (Oreland, PA/Germantown Academy) to tie the score at 5-5 with 14:19 to play in the half.  Less than a minute later (13:31), Colgate's Amanda Bradshaw (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley) put the Red Raiders up for good at 6-5. Colgate went on to score the next three goals to extend its lead to 9-5.

Senior Kate Henwood (Glen Mills, PA/Garnett Valley) gave La Salle its last goal of the half with 2:21 left to play.  The Explorers went into the break behind 9-6.

After the intermission, La Sale switched goalies and freshman Chantelle McCormick (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) logged her first collegiate minutes.  In her 30 minutes in goal, McCormick stopped four shots and allowed five goals.

Colgate picked up in the second half where they left off in the first, scored three unanswered goals to push the gap to 12-6.  Bonczek broke the scoring drought with 13:40 to play on her second free position goal of the game.

Jessica Van der Meulen (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) scored Colgate's final two goals at 9:16 and 3:35.

The Explorers did manage to net three additional goals, at 7:38, 1:53 and Grossi's last second goal to put La Salle's scoring total at 10.

Next up for the Explorers are the Villanova Wildcats.  The Explorers and Wildcats are slated to tip off at 3:30 p.m. at La Salle's McCarthy Stadium.  Check the La Salle website for any changes due to weather related conditions.