Women's Soccer | October 22, 2017
Box Score PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's soccer team (14-3-2) defeated the VCU Rams (9-5-3, 5-3-2 A-10) 1-0 on Senior Day to clinch the Atlantic 10 regular season title.
The Explorers finished the A-10 portion of their schedule unbeaten at 9-0-1 to win the league's regular season title outright after being picked 10
th in the preseason poll conducted by the league's 14 head coaches.
"It's such a special moment for our program to have our eight seniors finish out our regular season as A-10 Champions," said head coach
Paul Royal. "We're so proud of the commitment these young ladies have put forth to get our program back among the best in the A-10. It showed a lot of character and leadership to keep this group together after only winning a couple conference games last year."
Danielle Marx scored the game-winning goal in the 54
th minute, using assists from
Amirah Louketis and
Kristin Haugstad to punch a ball off the fingertips of diving VCU keeper Audrey Sanderson and inside the near post.
Larisa Zambelli came up with six saves, including five in the second half, to earn her 11
th shutout of the season, missing only 5:03 of action due to concussion protocol after a collision with a VCU forward. The shutout was La Salle's 12
th on the season en route to a goals-against average of 0.62.
La Salle fired 12 shots in the match, landing eight on goal. Marx and
Kristin Haugstad each took three shots in the game.
As the top seed, the Explorers will host Dayton in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Championship on Saturday afternoon at McCarthy Stadium.
