Sport shorts: field hockey and men's soccer

By Mike McDonald
Collegian Editor
September 20, 2006

Field Hockey

On Wednesday, Sept. 13, the field hockey team played its first game on the newly resurfaced Hank DeVincent Field. The Monmouth Hawks came to town for an afternoon matchup.

In the first half, the Explorers outshot Monmouth by a count of 11-2. However, both of Monmouth's shots were goals, while La Salle was unable to find the back of the net. Both Monmouth goals came within a span of 40 seconds. The teams went into the half with the Hawks in front, 2-0.

After Monmouth scored the first goal of the second half, the Explorers answered back by getting on the scoreboard. Senior Laura Farley scored a goal, cutting the lead to 3-1.

With less than 30 minutes left to play, La Salle scored again. This time, when the Explorers did capitalize, it was freshman Kelly Dougherty went to the top shelf and beat Monmouth goalie Chelsea Farley.

With 10 minutes left in the contest, Monmouth scored an important insurance goal which proved to be the difference-maker. This is because less than two minutes later, Explorer senior Amy Comstock scored to bring the score to 4-3. This was the final score, and the Explorers absorbed the loss. This dropped them to 2-6 on the year.

On Tuesday afternoon, the team traveled to Rider University for a showdown with the Broncs.

This was a defensive battle. At halftime, neither team had gotten onto the scoreboard. Rider came out firing in the second half though.

Rider’s Heather Connelly beat La Salle junior goalkeeper Ellen Axelsen three minutes and 58 seconds into the second period.

This was the only goal scored in the battle, and Rider won the game 1-0. Overall, Rider fired 10 shots at Axelsen, but the Explorers were only able to get two shots off in the entire game.

With the loss, the Explorers fell to 2-7 on the year. Rider climbed to 4-2.

Men’s Soccer

The Explorer men’s soccer team played last Wednesday at home against the Bucknell Bison.

La Salle led 1-0 until Bucknell converted on a penalty kick just before the half. The 1-1 halftime score was as much as the teams would muster all day.

Despite a hard-fought battle, nobody could score for the rest of the game. It ended in a 1-1 tie. Junior Joe Heavey scored La Salle's only goal.

On Saturday, the Explorers played against local rival Temple. This was a complete effort by the La Salle team. Sophomore Jim Davis, sophomore Kevin Lydic, and Heavey all scored goals in the game.

The Explorers walked out of the matchup with a strong 3-0 victory. The win improved the Explorers’ record to 3-3-1 on the season. They will be back in action on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against the Penn Quakers here at McCarthy Stadium.

mcdonaldm2@lasalle.edu