PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle lacrosse squad jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and only expanded upon that in a 17-6 win at Saint Joseph's in the final road game of the regular season on Friday afternoon.

Caitlyn Brostrand led all players with three goals while adding one assist. Alanna Diffendal continued her stellar play of late, leading all players with five points on two goals and three assists. Five more Explorers (8-7, 4-3 Atlantic 10) had two goals each in a balanced attack at Hawk Hill, including Erin McCabe, Katelyn Fay, Allee Ilgenfritz, Rachel Ceplo and Claire Andrews.

St. Joe's (5-11, 0-8 A-10) got six goals from six different players.

"Our goal was to set the tone and dictate the tempo of play and I believe we did that today," Head Coach Candace Taglianetti Bossell said. "There were so many positives in the game individually and collectively and it was nice to see us execute the game plan."
 
"It was so great to have so many players contribute offensively along with our usual weapons of Fay, Brostrand and Ilgenfritz but once again Alanna Diffendal is rising to the occasion and proving its never too late to be a star," Taglianetti Bossell added.

McCabe opened the scoring in the second minute of play, taking a pass from Diffendal and sinking the goal just 1:19 into the game. Ilgenfritz and Fay scored in the next five minutes to put the Explorers up 3-0 before SJU's Dana Garbinski got the Hawks on the board at 23:12.

McCabe sparked another run, this time a six goal run spanning most of the first half to put the Explorers up 9-1. SJU got one back on a woman-up goal with 15 seconds before halftime for a 9-2 Explorer lead at the break.

The Explorers scored four of the first five goals of the second half on scores from Kerry Newby, Andrews, Brostrand and Diffendal to go up 13-3.

The Hawks scored the next three goals over a 14-minute span, but the Explorers closed out the game with four straight goals in the final 6:33 of the game.

The Explorers outshot the Hawks 35-11, and picked up 23 ground balls to the Hawks' 15. SJU edged the Explorers 13-12 on draw controls.

The Explorers keep their playoff hopes alive, and look for the potential tournament spot on Sunday when they host Richmond in the regular season finale at McCarthy Stadium at 11 a.m.