April 19, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle women's lacrosse head coach Candace Taglianetti has led the Explorers to the Atlantic 10 Tournament in just her second season in what has been a banner year for the program. La Salle finished the regular season with a program record five A-10 victories and captured the second seed in this weekend's conference tournament, also a program best. The Explorers will take on Massachusetts on Friday at 3:30 PM on the campus of Duquesne University.

Taglianetti, a candidate for Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors, has led her team to numerous late-game comebacks, including on Sunday at UMass. The Explorers trailed 9-8 with under a minute to play before scoring two goals, one by freshman Lauren McDermott with two seconds to go to secure the victory.

"The opportunity to coach this team is awesome," Taglianetti said. "With all of the history being made, it's great to see the program and the girls succeed. The rewards this season comes from a total team effort."

La Salle is an impressive 4-1 in conference games decided by two goals or less and was 5-2 at McCarthy Stadium this season.

Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete of the Year candidate and senior Jill Davis, who also sports a 4.0 GPA, is part of a talented senior class that has led the team this spring. Davis is among the conference's top scorers (35 goals, eight assists) and joins classmates Stefany McKee (24 goals), Elizabeth Iacullo (12 ground balls) and Dorothy Schalleur (16 caused turnovers) in the starting lineup.

La Salle has also dominated play against Big 5 opponents, defeating Villanova, Saint Joseph's and Temple this season.

Top-seeded Richmond takes on Temple in the first semifinals on Friday at 1 PM. The winner of that game and the winner of La Salle-UMass will play on Sunday at 3:30 PM, which will be televised live on CBS College Sports.