La Salle earned their first birth in the USA Rugby DII Collegiate Playoffs by finishing third in Mid Atlantic Rugby Football Union's DII playoffs. The Explorers moved past a disappointing loss to EPRU foe Delaware, 17-5, on Saturday to claim third place on Sunday. LSWR advanced to nationals by beating Georgetown 27-0 in what was a total team effort. 

 Saturday was a frustrating affair for the Explorers. Despite producing a significant number of scoring opportunities and maintaining possession for large portions of the game, LSWR found only one try versus a stingy Delaware defense. La Salle squandered scoring opportunities and possession because of poor ball handling for most of the game. Excellent work in the set piece kept La Salle from giving their opponent a solid platform to attack from. However Delaware proved more effective at capitalizing on their opportunities and punishing La Salle's mistakes.

La Salle regrouped on Sunday determined to qualify for nationals. The game was never in doubt, as La Salle opened the scoring early and dominated possession throughout. The Explorers found their hands and converted significantly more line breaks and attacking opportunities. The La Salle pack continued their dominance in the scrums, mitigating what handling errors did occur. They also stepped up the intensity at the point of contact creating clean ball and making their opponents channel one attack almost impossible. 

 The big difference on Sunday according to coach Kristin Aliberto:

"The difference was confidence, without a doubt confidence, from the minute they put their boots on through the final whistle. Maria Muscara (Outside Center) ran with such confidence and really rebounded from a tough Saturday when others would have folded. Our backrow of Julia Walsh, Charne Foston and Veronica Sacchetti were throwing knock out punches all day, running so well in the loose and simply terrorizing the opposing team off of the set pieces. Brittany McKenna (Fullback) was fantastic all weekend,  every time she was called she answered whether on offense and defensive."

La Salle is set to play the #1 seed from the Pacific Coast during the first round of nationals, April 18th and 19th in Sanford, Fl. La Salle will prepare for nationals by testing themselves vs DI West Chester this Saturday. The Explorers will wrap up their preparations for nationals by playing Kutztown on Friday, April 10th, at home in McCarthy Stadium.