East Brunswick's Gabriella Carbone Leads La Salle to Victory (Video)

East Brunswick Class of 2011 graduate Gabriella Carbone scored her first collegiate goal, which proved to be the game-winner, as the La Salle women's soccer team blanked Loyola (Md.) on a soggy night at McCarthy Stadium.

(See Carbone's shot by clicking on the accompanying video link.)

“It was a sloppy night and we didn't finish off our touches like we normally do,” said head coach Paul Royal in a press release. “But our team was resilient and we found a way to win.”

The La Salle Explorers (7-0-1) have been finding many ways to win, this time around the team had to endure a one hour and 35 minute rain delay that halted play just 29 minutes into the game.

Carbone's winner came 10 minutes before the delay, as the freshman caught Loyola keeper Danielle Ippolito off her line and kicked one just under the crossbar from 30 yards out to give La Salle the advantage.

In the 19th minute, the skies opened up and McCarthy Stadium turned into a shallow swimming pool until the rain subsided about an hour later.

After play resumed, La Salle dominated on defense and allowed just two shots on goal in the second period.

Goalkeeper Melissa Sanger needed to make just two saves to preserve her eighth shutout of the season. Sanger is still the only full-time starting keeper in the nation that has yet to allow a goal.

As a team, the Explorers are the only squad in Division I out of 316 teams that hasn’t given up a goal in 2011. On the men's side, only No. 3 Creighton has accomplished that feat.

The eight shutouts breaks the La Salle single-season record as Sanger continues to add to her all-time career record with 18.

La Salle will try to extend its winning streak to seven games on Sunday afternoon with a regional match up against Lehigh. Opening kick is set for 1 p.m. at McCarthy Stadium. The game will be streamed live on GoExplorers.tv and live stats will be available on GoExploers.com.