MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint
Anselm Hawks took on the No. 9 Wilmington (Del.) Wildcats today on
the other side of town at the Southern New Hampshire University
Invitational. Their first non-conference match resulted in a
close 1-0 loss to the nationally ranked Wildcats.
Wilmington got off to a strong start, maintaining possession of
the ball for the majority of the period. Their exceptional
speed and sophisticated ball-control demonstrated why they are
ranked in the NSCAA Top 10. However, the Hawks' defense was
very strong and limited the Wildcats to just one goal in the
game. The lone goal came just after the 29 minute mark, as
senior captain Sargbah Tarpeh (Philadelphia, Pa.)
dribbled the ball all the way downfield and laced a hard shot past
Hawk goalie John Corridan (Holliston, Mass.) who
didn't stand a chance.
The Saint Anselm defense succeeded in keeping the Wildcats
scoreless throughout the entire second period, and in the last 20
minutes of the game, the Hawks had some key chances to tie the
score. At the 70 minute mark, a Wildcat foul just outside the
box gave Tyler Sangster (Duxbury, Mass.) a free
kick, who passed to Justin Labonte (Pembroke,
Mass.) in front of the net, but Labonte was too heavily
defended to make the turn into the goal.
At 87:03, Keesen Howe (Norwich, Conn.) set up a
great play as he sent a crossing pass to Joshua Rocco
(North Reading, Mass.) in front of the goal who tried to
head it in, but missed wide. With just over a minute to go in
the game, Tyler Sangster tried to set Rocco up with another header
off a free kick, but he once again missed wide. At 89:57,
with just three seconds remaining in the game, the Hawks got one
more chance as Labonte took a shot from outside of the box, but
keeper Duhan Malali (Galloway, N.J.) deflected the
ball out of bounds and the clock ran to zero.
Saint Anselm goalie Corridan had six saves in the game.
Ethan Kavanaugh (Woodstown, N.J.), the starting
goalie for the Wildcats had no saves, and Malali, who came in for
the second half, had one. With the win, the Wildcats improve
to 3-0 (0-0 CACC) and the Hawks drop to 0-2 (0-1 NE-10).
The Hawks return to action this Saturday, September
5th for their new home opener against the St. Thomas
Aquinas Spartans at 3:00 pm. Be sure to come out early and
support the Hawks' women's team as they take on the Southern
Connecticut Owls starting at noon!
