Villanova, La Salle advance to women’s soccer conference semifinals

A trip to the Midwest later this week was the reward for both Villanova and La Salle’s women’s soccer teams after they each won their conference quarterfinal matches 1-0 at home over the weekend.

La Salle punched their ticket to the semifinals for the first time since winning the Atlantic 10 Championship in 2017 after holding onto a 1-0 lead to beat Dayton for the second time in a week. Emily Banashefski scored the lone goal in the 21st minute and Claudia Jenkins made seven saves to record her sixth clean sheet of the season.

The Explorers will face top seed Saint Louis on Friday at 2 p.m. in St. Louis. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Shannon Casey scored the lone goal in the 30th minute to lead Villanova to the 1-0 win over DePaul at home on Sunday and earn the program’s first trip to the Big East semifinal since 2004. Goalkeeper Rebecca Gartner made five stops to register her fifth clean sheet of the season.

The Wildcats will take on top-seeded Xavier on Thursday at Morrison Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska at 6 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast live on the Big East YouTube channel.

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

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