MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Canada Stewart (Derry, N.H.) scored 8:07 into overtime to lift the Saint Anselm College field hockey team to a 3-2 victory against fourth-ranked Long Island University-LIU Post on Friday afternoon at Grappone Stadium.
The Hawks improve to 3-1 on the season as they snap LIU Post's 20-game regular-season winning streak. The Pioneers, who lose a regular-season contest for the first time since Oct. 13, 2012, dip to 2-1 on the year. LIU Post had come in winners of 23 of its last 24, with the one loss during that span coming in last year's National Championship game.
"The big thing was not to be intimidated and believe that we could win and that we were skilled enough to compete," head coach Carolyn King said. "They believed it from the start. We scored first and battled right to the end."
After being out-possessed for most of the extra session, the Hawks broke through in the 79th minute. Freshman Erin Collins (Auburn, Mass.) brought the ball up the left side, dodging defenders before getting it over to classmate Emma Kincaid (W. Bridgewater, Mass.), who made a couple more defenders miss. Kincaid released a shot that deflected off a defender toward the right post where Stewart had tracked the ball, spun and batted the ball inside the right post to give the Hawks the sudden-death victory.
Saint Anselm came out and threw the first punch of the game as sophomore Rose Mooney (No. Attleborough, Mass.) potted her first of the year 7:41 in to stake the Hawks to a 1-0 lead. Junior Meagan Halligan (No. Branford, Conn.) tapped the ball up ahead from the top of the circle to her right for Mooney, whose long shot bounced into the right side of the cage.
The Hawks really put the Pioneers back on their heels less than six minutes later as Halligan's shot from the left caromed off a defender to freshman Allia Connolly (Westford, Mass.), who gathered the ball near the left post and beat LIU Post goalkeeper Meredith Stocklin to make it 2-0.
From there, however, LIU Post, went on the offensive and outshot Saint Anselm, 13-2, the rest of the way. The Pioneers sliced their deficit in half in the 24th minute as Dani Crouse's rebound bounced out to the right for Lyn-Marie Wilson, who sent a feed across to the left post where Stephanie Ruhle put it past sophomore goalkeeper Katherine Sears (Northboro, Mass.).
The game stayed that way until late when Keliann Margiotta knotted the game with 3:38 left off a feed from Wilson, who put a cross-circle pass from right to left directly on the stick of Margiotta.
The teams then went to overtime, where the Hawks needed three saves from Sears and a big defensive save from junior Taylor Coons (Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.) to stay alive long enough for Stewart to come through.
Sears made 11 saves, while Stocklin stopped two shots.
LIU Post outshot Saint Anselm, 20-7, including 9-0 in the second half, and also held a 12-3 advantage in corners.
The Hawks return to action Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. when they travel to take on fifth-ranked Stonehill College in what will be their third straight game against a nationally-ranked opponent. The next home game for the Hawks is Saturday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. when they play host to Southern Connecticut State University at Grappone. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter @STAHawks.
