La Salle Women's Rugby fell to the University of Delaware 27-17 in a exciting match at Edgley Field. It was a game of two halves. The University of Delaware touched down four times and added a penalty kick before half time. LSWR woke up in the second half, playing in Delaware's end for the majority of the remaining time but could only manage three tries despite their vast advantage in second half possession.

 Delaware took advantage of La Salle's slow start by moving the ball well off of quick turn overs and capitalizing on poor tackling to create mid field line breaks. La Salle ran a foul of the referee much of the game. This led to points for Delaware and cost the home team points on several occasions.

For their part, LSWR counted on their scrum for fantastic possession and turned over numerous U Del scrums to keep the ball in attacking territory. The Explorers were led on defense by flanker Patti Flanagan who terrorized the opposing flyhalf all game. A break out performance by freshman center Christine Adkins paced an aggressive mid field attack from the Explorers.

Coach Kristin Aliberto was disappointed at the close loss but sees a silver lining:

“Obviously taking 30 minutes to turn on during a game and only scoring three times when we spent so much of the second half in their (U Del's) end was disappointing. We knew there would be challenges going into this game after four weeks of soft games. We found out a lot about our mental toughness today, about our ability to recognize what's going wrong and adjust. Now we have several weeks to work on the technical and tactical mistakes that kept us from really opening the game up in the second half. I know the girls are eager for another opportunity against a team of U Del's caliber.”

The Explorers have a bye for fall break this coming Saturday before playing a friendly vs Bryn Mawr during homecoming. LSWR will finish their fall season by competing in the EPRU DII playoffs, their probable first game is versus 2008 DII national champions Shippensburg University.

Roster:

1. Nicole Henriquez Jessica Bell @25

2. Donelle Smith

3. Nicole Muraglia

4. Allison Floyd

5. Mary-Kate Kimiecik

6. Charne Foston Julia Walsh @60

7. Pattie Flanagan

8. Christina Foley

9. Jessica Wallace

10. Britni Buffalino

11. Jillian Garcia Fiona Brabazon @65

12. Christine Adkins

13. Bridget O'Donnell

14. Maria Muscara

15. Brittany McKenna