PHILADELPHIA - Alanna Diffendal scored or assisted on the Explorers' first four goals and the squad broke a late tie to defeat Davidson 8-7 on Friday night at McCarthy Stadium in a crucial Atlantic 10 matchup.

"I thought we had awesome energy tonight from start to finish," Head Coach Candace Taglianetti Bossell said. "Our intensity was great, especially in the ride. That's something we really pride ourselves on, so to see us able to convert on that and gain offensive opportunities was amazing."

Diffendal finished with a game-high four points on her three goals and assist, making the most of her earned start in tonight's game. With her four points tonight, she is up to a career-high 19 on the season.

"?I'm so proud of Alanna Diffendal, her efforts tonight were huge and she made such an impact," Taglianetti Bossell said. "She was waiting for a breakout performance like that so that was exciting to see."

Katelyn Fay added two goals and an assist, including the game-winning goal. Caitlyn Brostrand chipped in two goals and Erin McCabe scored one.

Lucy Sexton and Emma Sissman led the Wildcats (4-9, 1-4 Atlantic 10) with two goals and an assist each.

Gabby Antonelli recorded five saves to pick up the win in goal, including a critical stop on a point-blank shot late in the game.

The Explorers (7-6, 3-2 Atlantic 10) never trailed in the tight game, but never led by more than two goals. Diffendal got the scoring started with an unassisted goal just 51 seconds into the game. 

The two defenses held for over eight minutes before Sexton snagged her first goal at 20:47 to tie the score at 1-1. Fay put the Explorers back up at 18:56 on Diffendal's eighth assist of the season, and Diffendal scored again just 47 seconds later for a 3-1 La Salle lead.

Sexton and Morgan Burch converted free position shots at 15:17 and 13:30 to knot the game at 3-3. The score held for another seven minutes until Diffendal drained her third goal of the game with 6:59 until halftime for a 4-3 lead.

Fay found Brostrand shortly after the break to put the Explorers up 5-3 just 27 seconds into the second half, but Davidson responded with a woman-up goal a minute later.

McCabe gave the Explorers another two-goal cushion, sinking a pass from Katie Fonte with 23:17 to go. The pesky Wildcats answered once again as Sissman and Rademacher scored back-to-back goals to tie the game at 6-6. 

Brostrand sank a free position shot with 11:57 left to put the Explorers up for good and Fay added the game-winning score at 9:00 even for an 8-6 lead. Sissman scored another for the Wildcats with 5:14 to go.

Rademacher tried to tie the game with a point blank shot, but Antonelli came up with the save and the Wildcats did not get a good look after that as the 8-7 score held up for the final.

The Explorers outshot the Wildcats 20-13 and won the draw controls 10-7. They also picked up 24 ground balls to the Wildcats' 14. The Explorers were also strong in transition, allowing Davidson to complete just 16 of 23 clear attempts.

The squad remains home through the weekend to host Massachusetts on Sunday at 11 a.m.