MANCHESTER, N.H.
- In Saint Anselm's first athletic event of the
year, the Hawks fell to the Dowling College Golden Lions in a
nail-biting, double-overtime match by a score of 2-1. Though
a notch in the loss column, the Hawks played very well overall, and
their strong performance today bodes well for the rest of the
season.
Jennifer Pearl (Stoughton, Mass.) put Saint
Anselm on the board early with an unassisted goal at 8:54, scoring
the Hawks' first goal of the season. The Golden Lions fought
back later in the period, when Sinead Tucker (Dublin,
Ireland) netted her first goal of the season at the 36:39
mark to tie the game 1-1.
Saint Anselm dominated in the second period, outshooting Dowling
10-3 and getting some key offensive opportunities. In the
middle of the period, Teresa Vercollone (Pembroke,
Mass.) drove the ball downfield and made it inside the
box, but as she saw the goalie charging, she sent a quick pass to
Hillary Sanacore (Wakefield, R.I.) beside her,
which was deflected by Dowling into the hands of keeper
Sara Sullivan (Levittown, N.Y.). Shortly
after, Erika Sartor (Andover, Mass.) won the ball
and charged through the midfield to send the ball to Vercollone in
the corner. She brought the ball towards the middle and sent
it back to Sartor who took the shot but missed wide. At the
end of regulation, the score remained 1-1.
In the first period of overtime, it was the Hawks' defense that
shined brightly. Dowling's Alexis Parotta
(Centereach, N.Y.) had a very strong drive, taking the
ball all the way down the field, but it was broken up by senior
captain Michelle Dickson (Manchester, N.H.).
Dowling then recovered the ball, but were once again stopped by
Dickson and teammate Keara Dolan (Madison,
Conn.). After 10 minutes of play and zero shots on
goal, the game was sent into a second overtime period.
With just over seven minutes remaining in the game, at 102:49,
Dowling senior Vanessa Moreira (Selden, N.Y.)
broke through the Hawks back line and scored an unassisted goal to
give the Golden Lions a 2-1 victory in both teams' season opener.
The Golden Lions are now 1-0 (0-0 ECC) and the Hawks are 0-1
(0-0 NE-10). Dowling goalie Sara Sullivan had 10 saves in the match
and Saint Anselm's Jacqueline Cooney (Braintree,
Mass.) had five.
The Hawks return to action on Sunday, August 30th
with a second non-conference match against the #19 University of
Bridgeport's Purple Knights at Melucci Field. The game begins
at 2:00 pm.
