BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University field hockey turned to Caroline Phillips like it has for much of this season and the senior came through with a pair of scores off the bench as the Mountaineers defeated La Salle, 2-1.

"We are super excited about our first home win," said head coach Meghan Dawson. "We competed with a really tough and skilled La Salle team that put us under a lot of pressure."

With the win, App State earned its first home victory of the season and improved to 2-6 overall while the Explorers dropped to 2-5 for their fall campaign. C. Phillips maintained her stranglehold on the team's lead in goals with six, which is four more than the next closest scorer on the squad.

Dawson continued, "I am proud of the team for how we scored that second goal, which was because of pure teamwork and the girls not giving up. We still have a bunch of improvement to make in our continued growth, but I'm proud that we could endure the pressure and worked as a team to win the match."

The visitors got on the board first and did so with a goal from Abbey Lawrence in the sixth minute. Lawrence was assisted by Jenica Miller on her first score of the season.

Appalachian State didn't back down though and converted on one of its five first-half corners in the 22nd minute. Micaela Diedericks inserted the ball straight to C. Phillips on the left wing who did the rest and the match was knotted up at one score apiece. That marked Diedericks' first assist of the season.

Another goal didn't come until the 62nd minute and again, C. Phillips took the initiative. This time the pass came from Taylor Cimbalist on a cross, C. Phillips  put the ball in the back of the cage and the Mountaineers had their first lead in a game since the eighth minute against Brown back on Sept. 5 (third match of the season). Cimbalist increased her team lead for helpers to seven with the dime.

In goal, Cristina Ceppi was in lockdown mode from that point on, much like she was the entire day. The senior stopper registered six saves to just one goal allowed all day.

Overall, the Explorers took more shots (16-12) and penatly corners (12-7), but App State held the advantage in saves (7-5). Marissa O'Brien tallied a defensive save for the second game in a row.

Appalachian State will take on Dawson's alma mater and third-ranked North Carolina a week from today with the start time set for 1 p.m.