PHILADELPHIA, PA - The 2005 lacrosse home season opened at McCarthy Stadium on Tuesday afternoon, as the La Salle Explorers hosted the George Washington Colonials for the first Atlantic 10 contest of the season. The Explorers came up on the short end of a 13-7 loss to the Colonials.  La Salle now stands at 1-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while the Colonials improve to 3-1 and 1-0.

George Washington senior Jamie Lee (Berkeley, CA/Berkely) opened the scoring 2:48 into the game on an unassisted shot.  Lee added a second goal at the 8:25 mark to give the Colonials a 2-0 advantage.

Atlantic 10 Co-Rookie of the Week Emily Bonczek (Henrietta, NY/Rush-Henrietta) put the Explorers on the board at the 9:10 mark to close the gap to 2-1.  It was the senior experience of Becky Boudwin (Springfield, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) who tied the game at 2-2 just 1:25 later.

Colonials team captain Jenny Heisler (Shaker Heights, OH/Shaker Heights) put GW up again at the 12:29 mark, followed by sophomore Laura Hostetler's (Ellicott City, MD/River Hill) free position shot at the 13:30 mark to put the score at 4-2.

The teams put on a defensive show for the next 16 minutes, as both teams were held scoreless, until GW's Annie Howley (Levittown, NY/Wantagh) capitalized on a free position shot with 56 seconds to play in the half.

Bonczek did not allow the Explorers to go scoreless the remainder of the half, as she knocked in a pass from Kristen Davis (Folsom, PA/Ridley) with just four seconds to play before the intermission to end the half at 5-3.

After the break, Davis waited just 15 seconds to score for the Explorers to close the gap to 5-4.  That one goal gap was short lived, as Lee scored back-to-back goals for the Colonials at 32:28 and 35:12 to extend the GW lead to 7-4.  Hoestetler scored again at the 35:12 mark, followed by Lee's fifth goal at 35:29 to put the game out of reach for the Explorers.

La Salle senior Kate Henwood (Glen Mills, PA/Garnett Valley) got the Explorers back into the scoring mode when she connected on a pass from freshman Kelly Heiss (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) with 19:34 left to play.  Bonczek netted two additional goals, both on free position shots at the 45:15 mark and 48:56 mark to put the score at 9-7. 

GW then went on to score the next four goals to end the game with a 13-7 victory.

For the first time this season, sophomore goalkeeper Brittany Friedrich (Dayton, MD/River Hill) controlled the goal for the entire game, earning 12 saves after facing 33 shots.  George Washington split the goalkeeping duties as Emily Fortunato (Farmingdale, NY/Farmingdale) and Caitlin Garman (Baltimore, MD/Friends School of Baltimore) both played 30 minutes.  Fortunato earned the win and tallied three saves, while Garman faced 12 shots and posted five saves while allowing four goals.

The Explorers will be back in action at McCarthy Stadium on Friday, March 18th when they host the Villanova Wildcats in a game that was originally scheduled for March 2nd.