PHILADELPHIA – Anchored by senior goalkeeper Genevieve Giblin's eight first-half saves and a defensive unit that stifled the Explorers to one first-half goal, the Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team defeated La Salle, 11-5, in Atlantic 10 action at McCarthy Stadium on Sunday afternoon. With their third consecutive victory, the Hawks improve to 4-8 overall (3-1 A-10). 

Giblin (4-8, 3-1 A-10) matched a season-high 11 saves on the day and added a single-game career high seven ground balls while SJU's defensive unit, led by senior Caroline Hagan, junior Megan Tracy, and sophomores Kate Payne and Catie Vivian, recorded the fewest amount of goals allowed on the season.

On the offensive end of the field, junior attacker Nora McCallion led all scorers with four points (3g, 1a) while senior midfielder Mallory Grey and junior midfielder Maggie Egan added two goals and one assist each.

"Today was a very well-rounded team effort," said head coach Alex Kahoe after the game. "La Salle is a great team and battled us hard. I am very proud of this team and how well they are working together. Our defense held strong, and Genevieve came up huge with some big stops. Offensively, we were strong as a unit. Many people stepped up and were able to capitalize on opportunities."

Tied 1-1 late into the first half, the Hawks scored five consecutive goals over the final 9:38 to jump out to a 6-1 advantage by the halftime break.

The Hawks started the five-goal run by taking advantage of an EMO off of a La Salle yellow card. Just 14 seconds into the EMO, Egan found freshman midfielder Hayley Sabol cutting in front of the net, and the rookie tucked away her sixth of the season to put the Hawks back ahead, 2-1.

Grey then converted on a free position shot with 4:59 to play in the first half, and Egan scored just under one minute later to put the Hawks up, 4-1, at the 4:05 mark.

McCallion, who had scored the first goal of the game just over one minute into play, then scored back-to-back goals, assisted by Grey (1:59) and redshirt freshman attacker Morgan Lamey (0:15), to close out the five-goal run.

SJU's defense shut down a pair of Explorer EMOs early in the first half; Giblin made a save during the first of the two EMOs while Payne caused La Salle to turn the ball over on the second one. 

La Salle (4-7, 2-2 A-10) scored three of the first four goals of the second half to pull to within three goals, 7-4, with 12:45 to play, but freshman midfielder Rebecca Lane (4:18), sophomore midfielder Aly Gormley (3:05), and Grey (1:17) put together a trio of goals over a three-minute span extend SJU's lead out to six, 10-4, heading into the final minute of play. 

The Explorers would score their fifth goal of the day with 31 seconds remaining in regulation, but Egan responded with four ticks on the scoreboard to keep SJU's lead at six goals, 11-5, for the final. 

For the game, Saint Joseph's held a 21-20 edge in shots and won the ground ball battle 19-15; Giblin (7) and Egan (5) combined for 12 of the 19 ground balls. Despite the Explorers earning 9 of the game's 17 draw controls, the Hawks won five of seven in the first half.

Saint Joseph's kept the Explorers to just 1-of-6 in free position shots, including an 0-of-4 first half. Of La Salle's six free position shots, Giblin saved four total, incluing 3-of-4 in the first half.

Saint Joseph's returns home to host Duquesne (April 15) and St. Bonaventure (April 17) this Friday and Sunday on Sweeney Field. Friday's game against Duquesne is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.

GAME NOTES: The Hawks have won three A-10 games in the same season just one other time since joining the league in 1999, with five in 2009; that 2009 team went on to play in the Atlantic 10 Championship game... Saint Joseph's improves to 12-7 all-time against La Salle and snaps a two-game series win streak for the Explorers... With four assists this weekend, junior midfielder Maggie Egan went from 17 (T-10th) to 21 (T-4th) assists this season, which ties her for fourth all-time at SJU for single-season assists; the record is 24.