March 28, 2008

ARLINGTON, VA - The La Salle women's lacrosse team dropped its Atlantic 10 Conference opener to George Washington on Friday afternoon, 13-7. Emily Bonczek tallied four goals as the Explorers fell to 0-8 on the year and 0-1 in the conference.

The Explorers took an early lead while holding GW scoreless for the first 18:23 seconds of the game. Bonczek got La Salle on the board at the 21:42 mark with her first goal of the afternoon. Minutes later, Iacullo found the back of the cage off of an assist from Erika Matthews, making it 2-0 in favor of the Explorers. Bonczek's score with 12:23 to play in the half gave La Salle a three-goal lead over the defending A-10 runner-ups.

The Colonials answered with consecutive goals before McKee gave La Salle a 4-2 lead at the 4:09 mark in the first half. GW went on the score the final three goals of the period to take a 5-4 lead into halftime.

GW's Taylor Donohue increased the Colonial lead to 6-4 early in the second half, but Bonczek answered with her third goal of the afternoon at the 24:41 mark.

That would be the closest La Salle would get the rest of the way, as the Colonials took control of the contest, scoring seven consecutive goals to take a commanding 13-5 lead. The Explorers were held scoreless for a 24-minute span in the second half. McKee finally ended the drought with her second goal of the day with 42 seconds to play. Bonczek notched her fourth score just 11 seconds later, but it was too little too late.

Freshman Mara Schnellenbach started in goal for the Explorers, making nine saves while playing all 60 minutes. Jessica Hanson recorded four ground balls and caused two turnovers, while Kelly Heiss picked up three ground balls and caused three turnovers.

La Salle returns home for game against defending A-10 Champion Richmond this Sunday at 3pm.