Oct. 7, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - After helping Women's Soccer to a 6-3-2 record in the month of September by scoring five goals and adding six assists, senior Traci DePasquale has been named the La Salle Student-Athlete of the Month for September.
After earning the school's first Student-Athlete of the Week honor for the 2009-10 academic season with a seven-point week to help the Explorers to a 3-0 opening week, DePasquale continued her success during the month.
She became just the second player in La Salle history to reach 20 goals and 20 assists in the 24-year history of the program (Amy Schneider, 1999-02) and, has since, increased those numbers to 25 and 25, with a total of five goals and seven assists for 17 points.
Currently, DePasquale is 33rd in the nation in Assists per game (0.54), 90th in Points per game (1.31) and 225th in Goals per game (0.385)
During September, DePasquale had three game-winning assists and one game-winning goal, the fifth of her career, with the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Delaware on Sept. 20.
"We did start the season off really well," said DePasquale. "However, we've hit a rough patch, but I feel that if we can come together as a team and we should be fine."
DePasquale is in her fifth year at La Salle, she played just three games in her sophomore season. The decision to come back for her final year "wasn't tough at all. I couldn't see my life without soccer. I didn't want to leave it!"
She did, though, set out a couple goals for her and the team and admits there is still more work to be done.
"I wanted to finish my career at La Salle as the all-time assists leader (she is eight shy) and I started off good. Also, I wanted to help the team get back to the A-10 playoffs."
After the season is over, DePasquale wants to find a teaching job near her hometown of Forked River, New Jersey, get into coaching soccer, and finish her degree.
For now, she is concentrating on getting the Explorers back on track, which starts with a pair of road games at Massachusetts (Friday, 4 PM) and at Rhode Island (Sunday, 1 PM).
