Sept. 30, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle Women's Soccer will open Atlantic 10 Conference action this weekend on the road in western Ohio with games at Xavier and Dayton.

It also is not the easiest of starts for the A-10 season, as La Salle will open at Xavier on Friday with kick-off slated for 7 PM. The Musketeers, who are led by first-year Head Coach Woody Sherwood, have already eclipsed last year's win total and then they improved to 4-3-0 on Sept. 13, they were off to their best start since 1997.

Xavier has since dropped a pair, but enter the match 4-5. They are led by junior Jessica Brooks (four goals) and freshman Lauren Heap (three tallies), while sophomore Leslie Boersma leads the team with three assists. Classmate Jennifer Perri has started all nine games in net for the Musketeers, holds a 1.32 goals allowed average and a 77.4 save percentage.

The road gets tougher, as the Explorers will take on Dayton on Sunday at 1 PM. The Flyers, ranked in the top 50 in three national polls including 25th by TopDrawerSoccer.com, sport an 8-2 record and a pair of players ranked individually in the nation.

In the most recent NCAA rankings, sophomore Colleen Williams comes in at 17th in the nation for goals scored (8) and eighth for total points (21). She leads the A-10 in points and game-winning goals (4) and is tied for first in goals and assists (5). Senior Lisa Rodgers is ranked ninth in the nation in save percentage (.905) and 11th in goals-against average (.385), while she leads the A-10 in both categories. She is second in the conference with four shutouts.

The Explorers will counter with their offense, which has scored almost two goals per game (1.91) and is led by a pair of freshmen Renee Washington (seven goals, two assists) and Anna Dolhansky (four goals, two assists). However, three other Explorers have at least a pair of goals, Erin Brennan (three and two assists), Leigh Gray (two and three assists), and Dani Allizzo (two), while Kierstyn Mabey (four assists) and Courtney Niemiec (three assists) are the leaders in helpers.

La Salle will also look to its defense, which has limited the opposition to less than 10 shots a game and Gabby Pakhtigian has provided almost five saves per contest. She actually leads the A-10 in overall saves (49), has a 1.31 goals allowed average and a 76.6 save percentage.

Currently, on the front page there is also a video midseason report that features brief comments from junior Melissa Sanger and freshman Kerri Aiken.