SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Saint Anselm women's soccer team needed a win and some help to earn a return trip to the Northeast-10 Conference Championship tournament, but host Le Moyne had other plans as the Hawks fell, 2-1, to close out their 2014 campaign.
The loss eliminated Saint Anselm (7-6-3, 5-6-3 Northeast-10) from playoff contention as Pace and Stonehill—two teams the Hawks beat during the regular season—clinched the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds for next week's NE-10 Championship tournament.
Le Moyne (10-7-1, 8-5-1 NE-10) jumped out to the early lead in the 17th minute as the Dolphins' Kirsten Colgrove sent a rocket from 28 yards out into the upper right corner to take control of the half. Just ten minutes into the second stanza, Colgrove found space off a feed near the 9-yard mark to make it 2-0 Dolphins with time ticking on the Hawks' season.
Though rather than roll over and assume defeat, Saint Anselm responded with a much more focused attack. To close out the second half, Saint Anselm outshot Le Moyne 10-2, put four shots on target and added a 4-0 corner kick opportunity advantage.
Finally, a crack in the dam was found by junior midfielder Rachel Gillies (Auburn, Mass.). Intercepting a failed clear, Gillies fired off a 30-yard shot that found net right post to record her fifth goal of the season in the 61st minute.
Freshman Alexis Elowitch (Portland, Maine) had some thrilling opportunities to level the game at two apiece down the stretch. Just over one minute after Gillies' goal, she snuck one past the Dolphin goalkeeper, only to have the ball swept away from the goal line by a streaking Le Moyne back. Elowitch tallied two more shots on-goal that were saved by the goalie, and seniors Jenna Szostak (Carver, Mass.) and Meagan Simon (Stratford, Conn.) each were active in the waning minutes, but the Hawks came up just short of finding the equalizer.
Sophomore Cassie Quattropani (East Hartford, Conn.) tallied a pair of saves, bringing her season tally up to 78 for the season and 137 in her two-year career.
Despite the season-ending loss Saturday, Saint Anselm posted its first back-to-back winning seasons since 2006 and 2007.
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