Posted by: Sue Senner
PHILADELPHIA, PA - The La Salle Explorer lacrosse team made it four in a row Saturday afternoon at McCarthy Stadium, when they handed the Albany Great Danes a 13-6 loss. The Explorers evened the all-time record at one game apiece and improved their season record to 5-3, while Albany posted its eighth straight loss to stand at 1-9.
Senior Becky Boudwin (Springfield, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) and freshman Emily Bonczek (Henrietta, NY/Rush-Henrietta) combined experience and skill to post eight goals for the Explorers, with each earning four of their own. Junior Kat Prokop (Towaco, NJ/Montville Township) also turned in a four-point performance with three goals and one assist.
In their second ever meeting, the Explorers and Great Danes faced off with Albany's Domenica LoRe (East Rochester, NY/East Rochester) scoring first at the 6:51 mark.
La Salle's standout freshman scorer Bonczek, earned a free position shot and tied the game at one goal apiece at the 9:26 mark. 42 seconds later, Prokop took a pass from Tiffany Grossi (Ridley Park/Ridley) to put the Explorers on top 2-1. Prokop assisted the Explorers again just 1:08 later when she tossed a pass to Davis who dropped it in the net to give La Salle a two-goal cushion.
Albany's Nikiki Donohue (West Babylon, NY/Babylon) accepted a pass from Brittany Scott (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) at the 15:38 mark to close the gap to 3-2. It was Kate Fontana (East Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) who tied the game at 3-3 with 10:20 to go in the half.
Boudwin began her scoring run for the game at the 22:28 mark of the first half to put the Explorers up by a goal at 4-3, before Fontana netted her second of the afternoon to knot the score again with 6:40 to go on a free position shot. Boudwin answered back for La Salle on an unassisted goal at the 25:55 mark of the game. Albany's Krissy Rajczak (Scotia, NY/Scotia-Glenville) tied the score for a third time with 2:18 remaining before the half.
Bonczek and the Explorers rallied in the last two minutes, with Bonczek scoring her second with 54 seconds to play, followed by a goal from Davis, with the help of Grossi with 37 seconds left in the half to give the Explorers a 7-5 advantage going into the break.
After a brief rest, Bonczek recorded her hat trick, on a free position goal 3:02 into the period, to start a 4-0 run for the Explorers, with three straight goals coming from free position shots. Prokop secured her second at 35:26, while Bonczek netted her fourth and final goal at the 46:25 mark. Boudwin completed the run on an unassisted goal with 13:08 to play.
Fontana halted the Explorers run at four, taking advantage of her free position shot at the 47:08 mark to score what turned out to be Albany's final goal of the contest. Prokop and Boudwin each scored again to put the score at 13-6 favor La Salle.
The Explorers again shared the goalkeeping duties, with Brittany Friedrich (Dayton, MD/River Hill) taking the first half. Friedrich faced 15 shots and recorded seven saves while giving up five goals. In the second half, Chantelle McCormick (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) took control of the goal and faced just four shots while recording two saves and allowing just one goal. Albany's Jen Daly (Stowe, PA/Pottsgrove) played 60:00 minutes, she faced 26 shots, recorded nine save and allowed the 13 Explorer goals.
La Salle will hit the road for a five game road trip, starting with Temple on Wednesday, March 30th at 4:00 p.m.
