Oct. 26, 2008

Box Score |  Photo Gallery 

PHILADELPHIA - Five La Salle Women's Soccer players were honored before the start of the day and, on Senior Day, the Explorers register a 4-1 victory over the visiting Rhode Island Rams as sophomore Alex Conley and junior Melanie Gamble each scored a pair of goals in Atlantic 10 action at McCarthy Stadium Sunday afternoon.

Conley opened up the scoring for the Explorers with a goal 25:22 into the match. Sara Copare began the play with a shot in close on Rhode Island goalie Jackie Fede. She made the save, but the rebound went to Conley on the right side of the net and Conley shot left into the goal for her first of the day.

Less than three minutes later (28:01), Conley struck again. This time, Traci DePasquale started the play with a pass to Dana O'Brien who played it out to Conley on the left side of the net. She dribbled and shot to the far right of the net for her sixth of the season and giving the Explorers a 2-0 lead they took into intermission.

Rhode Island (6-11-1, 2-7-0 A-10) cut its deficit in half with a Stephanie Santos tally with just under 19 minutes left on the clock. Kaylen Shimoda played a through ball to the right side of the field. La Salle goalie Melissa Sanger came out to play the ball, but Santos got there first and played a looping shot into the net.

With exactly 14 minutes left in the contest, Gamble scored her first of the game on a penalty kick after a Ram defender committed a foul inside their box. Gamble converted her second PK of the season, and then added her seventh of the season 1:34 later on a cross from DePasquale to give the Explorers a 4-1 advantage.

With Conley getting two today, La Salle now boasts four players with at least five goals for only the second time in the program's history (1999). With her two assists today, DePasquale now has nine for the season, tied for the third-most ever in a single season at the school and her 17 career assists is tied for fifth all-time. For Conley, she notched her fourth career game-winning goal.

Sanger made six saves in the game to pick up her seventh win of the season, while Fede made just two saves as she suffered the loss. 

La Salle (8-7-3, 4-3-2 A-10) played its final game of the season at McCarthy Stadium and heads to Ohio for its final two regular season contests. They take on Xavier on Friday at 7 PM, then close out the regular season slate with a match at Dayton on Sunday at 1 PM.

The five members of the women's soccer team that were honored prior to the start of the game were Jen Broeze, Simone Canfarotta, DePasquale, Dana Giordano, and Amy Grant.