MANCHESTER, N.H. – Five different players recorded at least one point as the #3-ranked Saint Anselm College field hockey team cruised to a 4-0 victory over Southern Connecticut State University on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 Conference action at Grappone Stadium.
Box Score
In a pregame ceremony, the Hawks (14-2, 9-1 NE-10) honored their eight seniors in Elizabeth Alie, Kelsey Leblanc, Jessica Lambert, Rose Mooney, Megan Dodge, Jennifer Brown and Katherine Sears as well as their team manager Lauren Wanless for their contributions to Saint Anselm and the field hockey program.
The Hawks struck first in the fourth minute of play as Jackie Guillemette came down the right side and fired a shot that was blocked away by Southern Connecticut's Brianna Craft. The ball dropped right to the stick of Jamie McNamara and she buried a shot into the right side of the net to give the Hawks the early 1-0 advantage.
Nearly 14 minutes later, McNamara was involved again as she knocked down a shot off the stick of Elizabeth Alie deep in the circle. The redirected shot fell to Maddie Bressler, and she scored on a wide-open goal to put the Hawks in front 2-0.
In the final minutes of the first half, the Hawks were awarded a corner and capitalized on the chance to extend their lead to 3-0. Erin Collins played the ball into the top of the circle and it eventually moved over to Mia Vecchione. Vecchione played a blast to the opposite post where it found Erin Collins for her fifth goal of the season to give the Hawks a three-goal advantage headed into the break.
Southern Connecticut threatened early in the second stanza as Jacqueline Touzos took advantage of a Saint Anselm turnover at the top of the circle and entered the area with a one-on-one with Katherine Sears. Sears dove to her right to stop the first shot and then forced Touzos' second attempt wide of the mark to keep the Owls off the board.
The Hawks put the game out of reach for good in the 52nd minute as Vecchione fired a ball along the goal line that was one-timed home by Abby Walker to give the game its final score of 4-0.
Saint Anselm held a 20-11 advantage in shots in the game while holding a slight 5-4 edge in penalty corners. Katherine Sears picked up her 14th win of the season while making five saves, while Sarah Bentley made one save in 16:39 of action.
The Hawks look for their seventh-straight win on Tuesday night when they host Franklin Pierce University in a 7 p.m. Northeast-10 Conference matchup.
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