THE RESULT
Saint Louis 4, La Salle 1
Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024 | Noon CT
McCarthy Stadium | Philadelphia, Pa.
 
GAME DETAILS
•Katie Houck and Hannah Sawyer had a goal and an assist apiece to power Saint Louis to a 4-1 Atlantic 10 Conference victory over La Salle Sunday afternoon.
•The Billikens improved to 10-1-5 overall and 6-0-2 in the A-10. They remain in second place in the league standings behind Dayton, which owns a one-point lead with two games to play.
•With the win, Saint Louis clinched a top-four spot in the standings and will host a quarterfinal game in the eight-team A-10 Championship.
•SLU extended its winning streak to four games and its unbeaten streak to 11 games (8-0-3).
•La Salle fell to 7-5-5, 2-4-3.
•Saint Louis scored twice in each half. Audrey Smith, with Sawyer notching her third assist of the season, netted the third goal of her rookie campaign in the 24th minute to break the ice. Houck knocked home her first goal of the year at the first-half buzzer as Caigan Leonard assisted to collect her first point as a Billiken.
•La Salle's Haley Gschrey cut the SLU lead in half in the 51st minute, and it stayed 2-1 until the closing moments. Sawyer scored her fourth goal of 2024 (Elise Le second assist) in the 87th minute, and Lyndsey Heckel netted her fourth marker of the season in the 88th minute with Houck picking up her third helper of the year.
•Emily Puricelli, who surpassed the 9,000-minute mark for her career, made five saves and tallied her 77th career victory.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
Audrey Smith (Hannah Sawyer), 23:31, SLU 1-0; Katie Houck (Caigan Leonard), 45:00, SLU 2-0; Haley Gschrey (unassisted), 50:12, SLU 2-1; Hannah Sawyer (Elise Le), 86:02, SLU 3-1; Lyndsey Heckel (Katie Houck), 87:20, SLU 4-1
 
BILLIKEN NOTABLES
•Saint Louis remained undefeated (7-0-1) on the road this season.
•SLU stretched its winning streak vs. La Salle to seven games and its unbeaten streak vs. the Explorers to nine games (7-0-2). The Billikens own a 9-2-3 series advantage.
•The Bills extended their A-10 regular-season unbeaten streak to 28 games. Including conference tournament games, Saint Louis extended its unbeaten streak vs. league opponents to 37 games.
•SLU has scored 36 goals this season, 26 of which have been assisted. All four scoring combinations vs. La Salle were new, giving the Billikens a different player combo for 25 of the 26 assisted goals.
•Katie Houck's goal was her first career game-winner.
•Houck became the 13th Billiken to score a goal this season, and Caigan Leonard became the 18th Billiken to record a point.
•Houck and Hannah Sawyer moved into a tie with Emily Gaebe, Julia Simon and Hannah Larson for the team lead in assists (three).
 
SAINT LOUIS STARTERS
Emily Puricelli, Lucie Schwartz, Hannah Sawyer, Hope Kim, Audrey Smith, Julia Simon, Katie Houck, Izzy Luebbert, Lyndsey Heckel, Sophia Stram, Elise Le
 
SAINT LOUIS SUBSTITUTES
Ashley Miller, Rylee Howard, Jordan Gary, Eva Schreiber, Caigan Leonard
 
UP NEXT
The Billikens play their final regular-season home game Thursday, Oct. 24, against George Mason. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.