PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team fell to La Salle, 9-4, in Atlantic 10 Conference action on Friday morning at McCarthy Stadium. The Hawks now stand at 4-10 overall and 1-4 in league play.
La Salle (9-5, 3-2 A-10) jumped out to a 4-0 lead just 7:19 into the first half, outshooting the Hawks 7-0 during the run.
After Hawks were hit with a yellow card penalty, Saint Joseph's junior midfielder Hannah Hutchins scored a man-down goal on a dish from sophomore midfielder Kelly Phelan to put the Hawks on the board, 4-1, with 9:57 remaining in the first.
La Salle added another tally at the 8:17 mark to take a 5-1 lead into the halftime break.
At the half, La Salle owned a 9-8 edge in shots. After being outshot 7-0 in the first 7:19, the Hawks increased their shot production as Saint Joseph's outshot La Salle, 8-2, in the final 20:14 of the first. The Hawks held a 12-9 edge in ground balls and were a perfect 9-of-9 in first-half clear attempts.
La Salle opened the second-half scoring as the Explorers converted on a free-position attempt to extend its lead, 6-1, at the 25:51 mark of the second.
From that point, the Hawks would string together a 3-1 run that began with the winning of a draw control by freshman attack Nora McCallion. Following La Salle's FPS, McCallion gained possession for the Hawks on the following draw control, and sophomore midfielder Courtney Emanuele found junior midfielder Julia Falcone for Falcone's 25th goal of the season to bring the Hawks to within four goals, 6-2.
The Explorers added another goal at 24:01 mark, the Hawks would tally back-to-back goals at the 15:35 and 10:57 marks of the second to pull to within three goals, 7-4. Junior midfielder Hallie Pickard registered the first of SJU's two goals on a dish from Emanuele while McCallion netted her 15th goal of the season for SJU's fourth goal of the game.
Unfortunately for the Crimson and Gray, La Salle would added on another pair of goals and hold the Hawks scoreless in the final 10 minutes of play as the 9-4 score would stand as time expired.
For the game, LaSalle held a 21-16 advantage in shots while the Hawks owned a 19-18 edge in ground balls. La Salle won 10 of the game's 15 draw controls. Both teams were an even 18-of-20 in clear attempts and also owned even numbers in turnovers (16) and caused turnovers (7).
Senior defender Brittany Hanrahan boasted five ground balls and two caused turnovers on the back line for the Hawks.
Sophomore goalkeeper Genevieve Giblin (4-10, 1-4 A-10) made five saves in a full-game effort.
Saint Joseph's will close out its regular season with a pair of road games next weekend. The Hawks will first take on George Mason on Friday, April 25. Start time at George Mason Stadium in Fairfax, Va. is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
