Nov. 1, 2007

Several La Salle field hockey players have earned Atlantic 10 All-Conference Honors, it was announced Thursday.

Sophomores Kara Harpel (Lebanon, PA/ Cedar Crest) and Colleen Lechner (Rochester, NY/ Brighton) were named to the A-10 First and Second Teams, respectively. Harpel also earned a spot on the Academic All-Conference team, along with senior Ellen Axelsen (New Hyde Park, NY/ New Hyde Park Memorial) and junior Maria Allegretto (Coatesville, PA/ Coatesville Area). Freshmen Beth Carey (Lebanon, PA/ Lebanon), Rachel Deaner (Berlin, NJ/ Eastern) and Adriana Lalli (Bristol, PA/ Bristol) were named to the All-Rookie team.

Harpel was the lone Explorer to garner First-Team honors. She finished the season second in the A-10 in goals scored with 10. Her 22 points tied her for third-place in the conference, as she became the first Explorer to be named to the First-Team since Allison Geiger in 2004. Lechner was named to the second team after a breakout sophomore season. She was second on the team in goals scored (seven) and points (sixteen), playing in 18 games.

Allegretto, Axelsen and Harpel were all named to the Academic All-Conference team. La Salle earned the distinction of being the only school to place as many as three players on the team. Axelsen earned the award for the second time, previously earning the honor in 2006.

The trio of Explorer freshmen to earn All-Rookie honors also led all other teams. Carey started 19 of the 20 games in which she appeared, scoring two goals and assisting on two others. She was named the A-10 Rookie of the Week for the first three weeks of the season. Lalli was a reliable player coming off of the bench, scoring two goals on the year. Deaner was the lone freshman to start in all 20 games. This freshman class was the first in program history to place as many three players on the All-Rookie team.

La Salle finished the season with an 8-12 record, posting a 1-6 mark in the conference.