Sport shorts: Women's soccer, volleyball and field hockey

By Mike McDonald
Collegian Editor
August 30, 2006

Women’s Soccer

On Friday night, the Explorer women's soccer team opened up their season on an historic night for McCarthy Stadium. The squad faced off against the Villanova Wildcats in a battle that will go down as the first night game at McCarthy Stadium, as well as the first game on La Salle’s new Sprinturf.

La Salle was able to fire the game’s first three shots, but it was Villanova that scored the game’s first goal, 28:34 into the contest. The Explorers battled hard for the rest of the game, and despite out-shooting Villanova 12-9, the team just could not find the back of the net. The Wildcats won the game, 1-0.

After a day off, the team came out on Sunday afternoon to host the Hartford Hawks. The Explorers got off to a fast start. Three minutes into the game, senior Ashley Cassel sent a corner kick off of a Hartford player’s head into the net for the first Explorer goal of the season. Freshman Melanie Gamble added another goal for La Salle later in the first half to provide some insurance. Sophomore Amy Grant made a save in goal and was able to record her second career shutout.

The women’s soccer team will be traveling for the next two weeks, heading first to Florida and then to Virginia.

Volleyball

The volleyball team opened up its season this weekend in Hamilton, N.Y. for the annual Colgate Classic. The event was a four-team invitational tournament ,consisting of La Salle, Colgate, UMBC and Rider.

The Explorers had a tough start, losing to UMBC in their first match. The Retrievers won by a score of three games to none. Junior Stephanie Owen was the team leader in kills, with eight. Carolyn Judge registered 26 digs in the matchup.

The second competition for the Explorers pinned them up against the Rider Broncs. This match had a better outcome than the season opener, as La Salle won this one by a score of three games to one. Once again, Judge led everyone in digs - she recorded 22. Christa Dominick played very well and led all players with a .406 hitting percentage and 16 kills.

La Salle came back to play in the final game of the Colgate Classic against the host team, the Colgate Red Raiders. It was a close matchup, but the Explorers fell by a score of three games to one. With the loss, the Explorers fell to 1-2 in the invitational and on the season as well. A bright spot in the tournament for La Salle was the consistent play of sophomore Christa Dominick, who was named to the All-Tournament team.

Field Hockey

The field hockey team started off its season the right way on Sunday. The Explorers blew out the Appalachian State Mountaineers, 6-0, in a game held at Villanova University.

Senior Laura Farley and sophomore Maria Allegretto each scored two goals for the Explorers, who dominated the action all day long. La Salle had 11 shots on goal to Appalachian State’s two. Junior Ellen Axelsen made two saves on the day, completing the shutout. The loss dropped Appalachian State to 0-2 on the young season, while the Explorers left the game with a 1-0 record.

The Explorers will play three games this week. Today they square off against the Drexel Dragons in University City. After that, they will travel to New York for games against Quinnipiac and Hofstra.

mcdonaldm2@lasalle.edu