PHILADELPHIA- The La Salle women's lacrosse team dropped an 11-5 decision to St. Joes on Saturday afternoon at McCarthy Stadium. Senior Kate Fay recorded a hat trick for the Explorers in the loss.
 
Sophomores Brittany Edwards and Nicole Black each added one goal and an assist of their own on the day while senior Katie Fonte also added an assist.
 
Freshman Sarah Gallagher made her third straight start between the pipes and finished with six saves on the afternoon while scooping up four ground balls.
 
The game started out as a defensive battle as things were even at 1-1 over 20 minutes into the game. The Hawks started out the scoring with a Nora McCallion goal before Edwards equalized things for La Salle (4-7, 2-2 a-10).

St. Joes (4-8, 3-1 A-10) closed the half on a 5-0 run over the final 9:38 to grab a 6-1 lead heading into the half.
 
The Explorers closed the gap to three with a 3-1 run of their own to open the second half. Three goals from Fay powered the run for the Explorers to make it 7-4 with 12:45 remaining in the contest.
 
However, the visitors answered with a 4-1 run of their own to close out the game with the sole La Salle goal coming from Black with 31 seconds remaining.
 
La Salle forced 16 Hawks turnovers on the day with nine of them being credited as caused turnovers. Sophomore Rachel Ceplo and senior Abby O'Donnell each had a pair of caused turnovers on the afternoon.
 
The Explorers return to action next weekend when they welcome George Mason to McCarthy Stadium on Friday before hitting the road and heading to UMass on Sunday.