The La Salle Explorers water polo squad once again dug themselves an early hole Tuesday night at Kirk Pool in Philadelphia and never fully rebounded against the visiting Saint Joseph's Hawks.

Partly through the third period, the Explorers found themselves down 9-3, but they went on to rip off three straight goals to pull within three. At times within the rally, the La Salle attack appeared unstoppable, as they kept the St. Joe's goalkeeper consistently busy in net, forcing him to make over ten saves in the entire second half. However, the Explorers momentum fizzled in the fourth period, allowing the Hawks to score two late goals and push the final score to 12-7 in favor of the visiting squad.

Tuesday night's game began fairly slowly with the crosstown schools feeling each other out for the first few minutes, but St. Joe's quickly ended that with three unanswered goals to take a 3-0 lead. The squads exchanged a pair of goals to keep the Explorers deficit at three at the first period whistle.

Following the first period, the Hawks netted five of the next seven goals to build their seemingly insurmountable 9-3 lead. The Explorers challenged the notion of insurmountable, but ultimately upheld it in the end.

The Explorers will look to build upon their late game success as they travel to the University of Delaware next Monday at 8:30 P.M.