Oct. 4, 2009

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle Women's Soccer scored the game's first goal, by Melanie Gamble, however Dayton responded with two of its own to escape with a victory and remain unbeaten in 2009, with a 2-1 overtime win in Atlantic 10 Conference action Sunday afternoon at McCarthy Stadium.

The Explorers scored off a corner kick by Traci DePasquale. She sent the ball into Gamble at the top of the box who then put the ball in the back of the net for her third goal of the season.

For Gamble it was her 14th career tally, just one shy of cracking the top 10 for goal scorers at the school. It was DePasquale's seventh helper of 2009 and the 25th of her career.

With the goal, La Salle put Dayton in its earliest hole of the year as it was just the third tally allowed in all of 2009 by its netminder Katherine Boone.

Against Auburn, the Tigers scored 26:26 into the match, the quickest before La Salle's at the 18:26 mark. Miami (FL) is the only other school to score on the Flyers, a tally in the second half of that game.

Dayton (8-0-4, 4-0-0 A-10) had trailed just a total of 52:27 in its previous 11 games, but the Explorers and their goalie Melissa Sanger continued to keep them off the scoreboard.

In the match, Sanger made a total of 14 saves, the most by an Explorer goalie since September 1, 1996 when Kristin Washburn also stopped 14 in a 4-0 loss to Drury in a tournament game at Wake Forest.

The Explorers defense also made one team save on a header by Flyer Allison Giner in the 47th minute. La Salle held the lead for 61:42 before Dayton's Kelly Blumenschein scored on a shot in the 81st minute.

The Explorers pressured after the equalizer and had a golden chance with five minutes remaining, but Gamble's shot was deflected and Erin Brennan, who collected the rebound, could not get her shot passed Boone either.

In overtime, Sanger came up big for the Explorers saving three shots before the game winner. She stopped a Mandi Back shot at the 98:48 mark, then made (at the time) two game-saving plays on back-to-back shots.

Lauren MacCormick dribbled in on a breakaway, and her shot was deflected away by Sanger, but Blumenschein collected and shot and again Sanger made the save.

It was one last breakaway, this one by Back that the keeper would not be able to stop and she ended the game with just four ticks left in the first overtime.

La Salle (6-5-2, 0-3-1 A-10) will head northeast for its next two games, travelling to Massachusetts on Friday at 4 PM and Rhode Island on Sunday at 1 PM.