MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Saint Anselm men's soccer team hosted the No. 6 (NSCAA East) Franklin Pierce University Ravens (6-3-2, 4-2-1 NE-10) this afternoon for a Northeast-10 Conference matchup.  After two and a half hours in the chilly New England fall weather, the game came to an end in a 2-2 tie.  Senior Tyler Sangster (Duxbury, Mass.) scored the first Hawk goal, and assisted the second.

The Ravens had possession of the ball for the majority of the first half, but the Hawks were still able to get a total of eight shots off before the first buzzer sounded.  At 15:01, the Hawks got their first real chance to score, as freshman Maximilian Glebocki (Wilbraham, Mass.) headed the ball into the box to sophomore Justin Labonte (Pembroke, Mass.), but Labonte could not quite get a shot off, and the Ravens regained control of the ball. 

A few minutes later, the Ravens had a similar opportunity, as sophomore Victor Goncalves (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) had a breakaway drive, but freshman Ian Downing (New Boston, Mass.) caught up with him and broke up the play, knocking the ball to Hawk goalkeeper John Corridan (Holliston, Mass.).  However, a few minutes later, at 22:08, Diego Taberes (Seekonk, Mass.) passed the ball from outside the box to Paul Latif (Newcastle, England) who sent a crossing pass in the box to Goncalves at the net, who knocked it in to give the Ravens an early 1-0 lead, which they would hold onto through the end of the half.

The Hawks' first real threat came shortly into the second half, at 49:21, when Justin Labonte fought his way past the goalie in the box.  He passed the ball to sophomore Joshua Rocco (North Reading, Mass.) who tapped it back to Labonte, who knocked the ball into the net, but offsides was called on the play, and the goal was waved off.

Thus the Ravens held the 1-0 lead for nearly an hour until, at 76:28, freshman Matthew Campbell (Lee, N.H.) sent a crossing pass from the right side to Tyler Sangster, who headed the ball off goalkeeper Vinny Papageorgiou's (Wilmington, Mass.) fingertips and into the goal to tie the score at one apiece.

Almost 10 minutes later, at 87:10, Raven sophomore Tom Reilly (Wallasey, England) passed the ball to Victor Goncalves, who dribbled the ball into the box and netted his second goal of the game to reclaim the Ravens' lead with under three minutes left in regulation.

However, the Ravens' lead did not last long, as 54 seconds later, with under two minutes remaining in the game, Andrew Parker (East Haddam, Conn.) passed the ball to Tyler Sangster, who stopped the ball with his chest and sent it to sophomore Keesen Howe (Norwich, Conn.).  Howe laced a hard shot across the box into the top-right corner of the net to knot the score at two and send the game into overtime.

The Ravens threatened early in the first overtime, taking three shots in just 13 seconds in the 92^nd minute of the game.  Collins Appau (Worcester, Mass.) had the first shot which was blocked.  Diego Tabares quickly got the rebound and laced a shot towards the right side of the net, which hit the inside corner of the post and ricocheted across the net on the goal line, staying inbounds by inches.  Appau then went for a second rebound shot, but Corridan was there and made a great save to keep the game going.

The Hawks had a few key opportunities at the end of the first overtime, but after 110 minutes of play and two overtime periods, neither team could score a third goal, and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.

The Ravens narrowly outshot the Hawks, sending 24 towards the net, as the Hawks shot a season-high 21.  While the Ravens did not record one foul in the entire first half, they had nine called on them in the second period, and the two teams ended up pretty even, with 13 called against the Hawks and 11 against the Ravens.  Saint Anselm goalkeeper John Corridan had a career-high 11 saves in the game, and his Raven counterpart Vinny Papgeorgiou had five.

The Hawks (2-6-2, 2-3-1 NE-10) return to action on Saturday, October 3^rd, when they host the University of Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks in a Northeast-10 Conference game beginning at 3:30 pm.  Be sure to come early to check out the women's team as they take on the Adelphi University Panthers at Melucci Field beginning at 1:00 pm!