MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Hawks made their first
win of the season a memorable one, as they rallied back from an
early 2-0 deficit to sink the Saint Michael's College Purple
Knights by a score of 3-2 in double overtime. In true
dramatic fashion, sophomore Justin Labonte (Pembroke,
Mass.) scored the game winning goal at 109:30-just 30
seconds before the game would have been ruled a tie.
The Purple Knights got off to a quick start, scoring two goals
in the first 18 minutes of play, to give themselves an early 2-0
lead. However, the Hawks did not lose hope, and at 41:50,
with just over three minutes remaining in the first half, sophomore
Justin Colella (Wilmington, Mass.) put the Hawks
on the board with an unassisted goal to set the score at 2-1 just
before halftime.
The Hawks came back from the break ready to fly, and at 46:11,
just over one minute into the second half, senior co-captain
Paul Kilday (Marshfield, Mass.) scored a second
goal, assisted by fellow team captain Michael Searson
(Acon, Conn.), to erase the team's early deficit and knot
the score at two apiece.
The Hawks dominated the offense in the rest of the game,
outshooting the Purple Knights 13-5 from the second period on
(20-13 over the entire game), but both team's backlines seemed
impenetrable, sending the game into overtime. After over 109
minutes of play, when it seemed like there was no way either team
would come out victorious, Hawk senior Tyler Sangster
(Duxbury, Mass.) set up sophomore Justin Labonte with just
30 seconds left in the second overtime period, who laced a perfect
shot up into the top of the net, just out of goalkeeper
Jason Burnett's (South Burlington, Vt.) reach, to
give the Hawks a long-awaited 3-2 win.
Jason Burnett had at total of 11 saves in the game and Saint
Anselm goalkeeper John Corridan (Holliston, Mass.)
had four. The Hawks return home on Saturday, September
26th to host the Saint Rose Golden Knights in a
Northeast-10 Conference match-up beginning at 1:00 pm.
