PHILADELPHIA – La Salle women's lacrosse held their own in the first half with Saint Joseph's on the road, but the high-powered Hawk offense powered St. Joe's to a 22-10 win on Saturday afternoon at Hawk Hill.
With the win, the Hawks (11-6, 7-2 A-10) clinched the third seed in the upcoming Atlantic 10 conference tournament, while the Explorers officially concluded their season. Overall, La Salle (5-12, 3-6) ended their season with conference victories over George Mason, St. Bonaventure, and VCU while also picking up a pair of non-conference wins against Iona and Mount St. Mary's.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Explorers got on the board first, as Maddie Henderson made a perfect feed to Kiki Venza who fired home a goal to give La Salle an early 1-0 edge.
- Lisa Ross and Riley Evans responded with consecutive goals to push the Hawks ahead 2-1.
- The rest of the quarter was all La Salle, as Venza, Erin Welsh, and Claudia Steinmetz led La Salle to a 3-0 run to end the opening frame and give the Explorers a 4-2 lead after 15 minutes.
- 14 total goals were scored in an eventful second quarter for both sides, starting with a 3-0 Hawk run as St. Joe's went ahead 5-4.
- La Salle's leading goal scorer Emily Johnston netted two of the next four goals to extend her team-best total to 40 goals. However, Johnston would pick up her second yellow-card of the game minutes later as La Salle was forced to play the remainder of the game without their versatile midfielder.
- In total, the Hawks poured in nine goals in the second period while La Salle notched five as St. Joe's took an 11-9 lead into the half.
- The Explorer offense slowed in the second half while the Hawk attack caught fire, allowing Saint Joseph's to run away with the game over the final 30 minutes.
- Maddie Henderson scored the lone goal of the second half for La Salle while the Hawks found the back of the net 11 times over the final 30 minutes to walk away with a 22-10 victory. Lauren Figura led the Hawks with three goals and three assists, extending her conference-best goal total to 57 while setting a new single-season program record for the Hawks.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Four explorers tallied multiple goals in the game in Johnston, Venza, Henderson and Steinmetz while Tori Rolon and Erin Welsh each added goals.
- Henderson and Maddie Hamilton led the team with four and two draw controls respectively, but St. Joe's held a commanding 24-9 edge on the draw.
- The Hawks led the game with 44 shots and 35 shots on goal, while La Salle racked up totals of 18 shots with 15 on goal.
- Kelli McGroarty (3-5) made her fifth start of the season for La Salle, totaling 13 saves. In goal for the Hawks, Jorde Concordia made five saves to record her 11th win of the season.
- On defense, Sara Grassi and Raquel Nieves each secured two ground balls and a caused turnover.
