MORAGA, CA - The 2005 La Salle University lacrosse team earned its first win of the season over host St. Mary's on Friday afternoon at St. Mary's Stadium.  The Explorers handed St. Mary's a 16-9 loss behind freshman Emily Bonczek's seven goals and two assists.  The Explorers improve to 1-2 on the season, while the Gaels dropped to 0-3.

It was the St. Mary's Gaels who got the scoring started in this contest, when Molly Wagner netted a goal just 1:29 into the action.  The Explorers, hungry for their first win of the season, answered at 26:23 wth Bonczek's first goal of the game off a free position shot. 

La Salle never looked back, as Kate Henwood scored four seconds later (26:19) off a pass from Bonczek.  The Explorers followed with goals from Kat Prokop (19:12), another goal from Bonczek (15:46); next up was Catie Borneman, who also scored with the help of Bonczek (15:15) and then it was Bonczek's turn again with another free position goal at the 14 minute mark.

With the score sitting at 6-1, St. Mary's finally answered La Salle's scoring drive, when Ally High knocked in a shot with 10:21 left to play in the first half.

La Salle quickly shut down the Gaels again, as Bonczek got the Explorers' scoring going for the second time with a goal at 7:49.  La Salle ratteled off four additional goals before the intermission to take  a commanding 11-2 lead into the break.

Following the intermission, La Salle's Kristen Davis scored just 1:17 into the period to extend La Salle's lead to 12-2. 

The Gaels woke up in the second half and scored back-to-back-to-back goals between the 26:36 and 19:14 mark to bring the score to 12-5.  St. Mary's just couldn't get on a roll, as the Explorers earned their first win with a 16-9 finish.

Sophomore goalkeeper Brittany Friedrich played the first 30 minutes and faced eight shots.  Friedrich allowed two goals in her 30 minutes controlling the cage and tallied four saves.  In the second half, freshman goalkeeper Chantelle McCormick saw 12 shots come her way and stopped two shots.  McCormick allowed seven goals in the half.

The Explorers return to the East Coast on Tuesday when they open the Atlantic 10 season at McCarthy Stadium, hosting the George Washington Colonials at 3:30 p.m.