PHILADELPHIA - Ari Bezanson nets her team-high third goal of the season in the Raiders 2-1 loss to La Salle on Thursday night at McCarthy Stadium.

COACH HOKANSON'S COMMENTS

"Tough result tonight but I am incredibly proud of our team. La Salle is a very good opponent and presented different challenges for us than we've seen thus far. I thought there were moments that we managed it well and others where we were on the back foot. At the end of the day, these moments won't define our season, what will are the ways in which we continue to respond and implement the lessons learned. I felt we did that tonight with some things from the last few games, and genuinely had some really bright moments on both sides of the ball. We need to continue to shore up the back and concede less goals, hard to win games that way. But we intentionally have these opponents to prepare us for conference play, so I am glad to see where we are and look forward to seeing how we respond to this result on Sunday against a very good Buffalo team again on the road."

HOW IT HAPPENED

La Salle opened up the scoring, netting a header four minutes into the match.

The Raiders soaked up pressure for the opening 15 minutes but were able to find a small opening thanks to a linkup between Paige Foa and Ari Bezanson. Foa dropped it to Bezanson who used her pace to squeeze between the La Salle defenders. Her final touch was just slightly too heavy and the La Salle goalkeeper was able to smother it.

In the 29th minute, Ari Bezanson picked up a loose ball just into the La Salle half and began to run at the La Salle backline. Bezanson dribbled past the center back and slotted it into the bottom left corner past the outstretched arms of the goalkeeper, equalizing for the Raiders. 

Colgate went into the half all square with La Salle at 1-1 but the Explorers edged the Raiders in shots 10-3.

La Salle retook the lead in the 58th minute after a shot was tipped over Popham's head and put into the empty net.

Jordan Juetten manufactured an opportunity in the 68th minute, pulling the shot just wide of the right post.

Olivia Anderson picked up her second yellow card of the match in the 79th minute. The Raiders were forced to play with ten players for the second time this season.

Bezanson took a difficult angle shot just before time expired but the Raiders were unable to find another equalizer, falling 2-1 to La Salle.

Alli Popham continued her impressive start to the season making eight saves bringing her 2024 total to 29 saves in six games.

UP NEXT
Colgate (1-4-1) heads to Buffalo, N.Y. for a matchup with University at Buffalo on Sunday, Sept. 8th. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.