MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm men's soccer team suffered a heartbreaker in its home opener Saturday at Melucci Field, falling in the final minutes of regulation to Le Moyne College, 3-2.
Saint Anselm looked in control for much of the game, taking advantage of some shaky Dolphin defense in the first half. Junior Sean Smith (Hampstead, N.H.) opened the scoring in the 16th minute on a beautiful cross from sophomore Eddie Conroy (Portsmouth, N.H.).
Le Moyne (4-1, 1-1 Northeast-10 Conference) responded with a deep entry of its own, beating Saint Anselm goalkeeper Bret Macko (Bolton, Mass.) in the 21st minute to lock the game at 1-1.
With halftime closing in, freshman forward Jack Heintzelman (Middleton, Mass.) showed true grit, working the ball through two defenders to find a streaking Jack Lynch (Weymouth, Mass.), who carried the Hawks into halftime up 2-1.
Despite a ratcheted up offensive focus for Le Moyne, Saint Anselm (1-3, 0-2 NE-10) was strong in the defensive third out of the halftime break. Macko in particular was stellar in goal, asserting his presence on several Le Moyne corner and free kick opportunities.
Just when it looked like the Hawks were going to hang on, a called foul inside the box granted Le Moyne a penalty kick—which was converted to tie the game back up at 2-2.
Unwilling to settle for a tie, Saint Anselm responded with a few corner and counter threats in the waning minutes. Yet it was a counter of Le Moyne's with just 80 seconds remaining that caught the Hawks off guard as the Dolphins' Fabian Egger netted his second goal of the game to put the visitors up for good.
Macko, despite taking his third loss of the season, picked up six saves in goal.
Emotions ran high Saturday as four yellow cards were awarded in the physical matchup, three going to the visiting Dolphins.
The tough one-goal loss was the second straight for the Hawks.
Saint Anselm will return to action Wednesday, for another NE-10 matchup against crosstown rival Southern New Hampshire. Game time is slated for 4 p.m. at Melucci Field.
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