PHILADELPHIA, PA - Leading 4-2 at the end of the first half, the George Washington women's lacrosse team scored the first five goals of the second half and coasted to a 9-4 victory at Temple Friday to improve to 3-0 in league play and remain atop the Atlantic 10 standings.

Freshman Sarah Phillips led GW (4-8, 3-0 A-10) with a career-high five points on two goals and three assists, senior Katherine Sampson netted a hat trick and junior Taylor Donohue added three points on a goal and two assists. The Colonials are off to their third 3-0 league start in the eight-year program's history, first since 2005.

Junior Mia Breheny opened the scoring at the 21:20 mark and GW maintained its lead the rest of the game. The Colonials jumped ahead 4-1 on back-to-back goals from Phillips and rookie Megan Seidman, but the Owls' Chelsea Rosiek scored with 13 seconds left in the half to make it 4-2 at halftime.

Donohue had a hand in GW's first three goals of the second half - assisting Seidman and Phillips before netting a goal at the 18:24 mark - and Sampson tallied back-to-back goals during a stretch of five unanswered goals for a 9-2 advantage with 10:17 remaining.

Sophomore goalkeeper Liz Hoffman made five saves on 20 shots faced in allowing her fewest goals in a full game between the pipes. Temple (0-10, 0-3 A-10) goalkeeper Jessica Colucci made 12 saves on the Colonials' 27 shots.

Four players picked up at least three ground balls for the Colonials, led by freshman Hilary Quinn's five. Sophomore Audrey Joy won a game-high three draws.

GW visits fellow league-leader Massachusetts Sunday at 1:00 pm.

2009-04-03