Sept. 21, 2007

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle University Women's Soccer team traveled down the Schuylkill to take on cross-town rival Penn on Friday afternoon at Rhodes Field and came back with a 3-1 loss.

Just seven minutes into the game, the Quakers struck first, when Jessica Fuccello crossed the ball from the right side. Penn's Jess Rothenheber got a foot on the ball and popped it over La Salle goalie Lauren Malizia and into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Penn (5-1-1) went up 2-0 thanks to another Rothenheber's tally 10 minutes before the half and she made it a three-goal game with her assist to Ellen Gregory at the 55:33 mark.

La Salle battled throughout the contest, but Penn goalkeeper Cailly Carroll stopped a number of La Salle scoring chances, including a nice save on an Ally Kenney shot in the second half that she had to fight off the shot and the sun.

That save - which she punched over the goal - resulted in back-to-back corner kicks for the Explorers, which they had seven to Penn's two, but they could not capitalize on any.

It was not until the 73rd minute that the Explorers broke through, when Lauren Cittadino collected a loose ball in the front of the Penn net and tapped it in for her second goal of the season. Heatherrae Steadman notched her third assist of the year on the play.

La Salle (4-3-0) continued its pressure, getting off at least three more shots, and two more corners. With just under four minutes remaining, Dana Giordano almost scored on a corner but the ball hit off the crossbar, and Carroll's last save with 40 seconds remaining on a Melanie Gamble shot secured the win for the Quakers.

The Explorers are next in action Sunday, Sept. 23 when they travel to Bethlehem, PA to take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at 1 PM.