La Salle Advances With a 1 – 0 Overtime Win Over Dayton
November 1, 2023 –
The La Salle Explorers will play for the championship of the Atlantic 10 on Sunday. The second seeded Explorers punched their ticket to the final with an overtime victory over the #3 seed Dayton Flyers at McCarthy Stadium. This is the first appearance in the final for La Salle since the team won the title in 2017.
The deciding goal came off a set piece in the 97th minute by forward Haley Gschrey who sent a pass from fellow forward Madison McCready high and to the left side of the goal. It is the 8th goal of the season for the junior who leads the team in that category, and now has 18 points. Gschrey leads the league with 7 game-winning goals.
After the goal in the first overtime period it was up to the Explorers defense to hold off the Flyers. And they did. Goal keeper Michela Auguadro made 12 saves in the game, a season-high, and is her 9th clean slate for the year. The most dangerous chances for Dayton came in a flurry that began with a shot by midfielder Diana Benigno at the 104:48 mark that sailed high over the cross bar. Less that two minutes later forward Alicia Donley let a low shot go that was saved by Auguadro.
Dayton had the better of the shots getting 21 compared to 9 for La Salle. The Explorers had 2 shots on goal, both by Gschrey, who had the shot that got past Flyers goal keeper Batoul Reda.
La Salle is now 13 – 5 – 3 for the season, and are riding an 11-game unbeaten streak. Their biggest game of the year comes on Sunday at #21 nationally Saint Louis who advanced with a 5 – 0 win over Duquesne in their semifinal match. The league crown will be decided between the top two seeds. The last team to defeat the Explorers was the Billikens on September 17 at Saint Louis.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: glenn@phillycollegesports.com
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