PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's soccer team came back from a two-goal deficit but suffered an overtime heartbreaker to fall to St. Joseph's in a 3-2 battle inside Sweeney Stadium on Thursday evening.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The opening 10 minutes saw both teams battle to control the possession, the Explorers grabbing the best opportunity as Alyssa Van Heurck forced a low save out of St. Joseph's goalkeeper Katie Cappelletti.
• The hosts opened the scoring in the 18^th minute, capitalizing on a free kick as Erica Behr connected on Natalie Nevins' cross.
• A minute later on the clock, the Hawks found the back of the net again as a scramble in the box saw Ashley Orendac finish into the bottom right corner for her team-leading fourth of the season.
• St. Joseph's put the ball in the back of the net for a third time in the 34^th minute, but the assistant referee waved the goal off due to an offside Hawk attacker.
• Molly O'Brien almost got the Explorers on the board with under four minutes left in the first half, her effort beating the scrambling SJU goalkeeper before a Hawk defender extended full stretch to save the effort off of the goal line.
• The Explorers got off to a strong start in the second half, applying pressure but failing to find the final product in the opening 20 minutes. The pressure would pay off as Shea Collins made a darting run down the left side and cut a pass back to an onrushing Kelli McGroarty. The sophomore's clinical finish found the back of the net in the 66^th minute to cut the deficit to one goal.
• With pressure continuing to mount on the Hawk defense, the Explorers would find the equalizer in the 83^rd minute through the right boot of Haley Gschrey. Emily Banashefski found Gschrey on a corner kick and the rookie tucked it away through traffic for her first career tally.
• Natalie Nevins grabbed the winner to spoil the comeback bid from the visitors, curling an effort into the far post with under two minutes to play in overtime.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Leading the team in assists entering the night, both Banashefski and Collins increased their tally to four on the season.
• McGroarty grabbed her second goal of the season and seventh of her career after entering the night with a team-high 35 shots on the season.
• Gschrey tallied her first collegiate goal in the loss.
• The Explorers held a 16-14 advantage in shots, holding a 10-8 lead in shots on goal.
• The two teams combined for 43 fouls (25-18).
• Michela Auguadro recorded five saves in the loss.

 
UP NEXT

• The Explorers conclude the regular season with their home finale against Massachusetts on Sunday, October 24. La Salle will recognize its six seniors prior to the game, which is set to kick off at 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.