Women's Lacrosse | March 23, 2016

PHILADELPHIA- The La Salle women's lacrosse team return home as it welcomes LIU Brooklyn to McCarthy Stadium on Thursday with opening draw slated for 7 p.m.
 
La Salle Explorers (1-5) vs. LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds (3-4)
Thursday, March 23 | 7:00 PM
 
Scouting the Explorers

La Salle returns home following an 8-6 win at Central Connecticut State on Sunday. The Explorers had four goals apiece from junior Allee Ilgenfrtiz and senior Katelyn Fay and were able to jump out to an 8-2 lead before fending off a late Blue Devils comeback. La Salle also faced Sacred Heart during their weekend trip north, dropping a narrow 11-10 decision. Ilgenfritz recorded a hat trick at Sacred Heart.

Fay and Ilgenfritz have powered the Explorers offense all season as both are in double digit in goals with Fay having 14 and Ilgenfritz at 11. Ilgenfrtiz leads the team with five assists and 16 total points on the season.

Sophomore Brittany Edwards has also proved a threat offensively as she has nine goals to her name and is 5-of-6 on free position shots on the year.

Senior Abby O'Donnell leads the team with 12 ground balls on the season. She has started all six games at defense for the Explorers.
 
Senior Allie Burnett leads La Salle with nine caused turnovers on the year. She also has collected eight draw controls and scooped up five ground balls to go with two goals and three assists.

Sophomore Lucy Loughlin has started all six games in goal for the Explorers. She has made 37 saves on the season. Loughlin earned her first career win at Central Connecticut State on Sunday as she made four saves in the win.

La Salle-LIU Brooklyn History

This is the third ever meeting between the two programs with La Salle having grabbed wins in the previous two games. In the most recent meeting the Explorers grabbed a 17-5 win to open the 2014 season. Katelyn Fay recorded a hat trick in the contest with Katie Fonte and Abby O'Donnell also recording goals for the Explorers. The series began in 2013 with La Salle taking a 21-5 decision over the Blackbirds. Fonte also recorded a goal in the 2013 meeting.

Scouting the Blackbirds

LIU Brooklyn head coach Allison Hanley is an alum of Richmond where she was a member of the Spiders team from 2003-06. Hanley grabbed four wins over La Salle during her playing days.
 
The Blackbirds are coming off an 18-4 win over Howard in their first home game of the season. LIU Brooklyn has also grabbed wins over Manhattan (15-12) and Saint Mary's (22-9) while falling at Fairfield (16-10), Army (10-9), Oregon (16-6) and Siena (19-13).

LIU Brooklyn leads the Northeast Conference as they are scoring an average of 13.29 goals per game and are second as they are shooting .487 on the season. Jenn Peters leads the conference individually as she is averaging 3.71 goals per contest. Mary McQueen is close behind in third averaging 2.57 goals per game.

Blackbirds goalie Alexis Maldonado is fourth in the conference with a .404 save percentage on the season. She is eighth in the conference allowing 15.89 goals per contest.
 
LIU Brooklyn have struggled in previous games in Philadelphia going 0-8 having fallen once at Drexel, twice at La Salle, and three times at both Villanova and Saint Joseph's.
 
Next Up

La Salle opens up conference play as it hits the road with a trip south to face Davidson and VCU next weekend.