Nov. 2, 2007

Box Score

OLEAN, NY - The La Salle University Women's Soccer team jumped out to a 2-0 lead by halftime, but had to fight off a shooting barrage in the second half by St. Bonaventure and escaped with a 2-1 victory Friday afternoon in Atlantic 10 Conference action at McGraw-Jennings Field.

The Explorers appeared to score the first goal of the game at the 20:12 mark, but were whistled for offsides; however they broke through on their next run 45 seconds later. On the right side of the net, Heatherrae Steadman found Traci DePasquale inside the box, whose shot hit the crossbar. Kristin Hextall was there to put home the rebound for her 14th goal of the season.

St. Bonaventure (5-11-2, 2-7-1 A-10) had several scoring chances in the first half, including a shot by Courtney Bosse, which was saved by Melissa Sanger at the 35:47 mark of the match.

Just one minute later, La Salle pushed its lead to 2-0 on DePasquale's 11th tally of 2007. Lauren Cittadino crossed the ball from the left side of the net towards the far post, where DePasquale poked the ball into the goal.

The Bonnies cut their deficit in half seven minutes into the second half on a 15-yard strike by Marylyn Wargo. She stopped an attempted clear by the La Salle defense and fired into the lower right of the net.

They continued to pressure the Explorers and goalie Sanger over the next 10 minutes, which included a breakaway by Bosse in the 57th minute, which Sanger came out to save and the defense cleared away. In the 59th minute, a free kick - almost like a corner kick but about 10 yards in - was headed wide by Kristin Sotek.

St. Bonaventure had three more scoring chances in a six-minute stretch between the 77th and 83rd minutes. Bosse had a 15-yard shot sail high, Anna Cunningham's shot from about eight yards on the right side of the net to the far post went wide, and Bosse had another shot inside the box go high.

In the game, La Salle held an 8-7 lead at the half in shots, but the Bonnies outshot the Explorers 11-5 in the second for an 18-13 advantage in the game.

La Salle (11-8-0, 5-5-0 A-10) will now close out its regular season on Sunday in Pittsburgh with a match against Duquesne starting at 12 PM.