WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Junior Allia Connolly (Westford, Mass.) scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 37th minute and Katherine Sears (Northboro, Mass.) held off a late push from the home team as the Saint Anselm College field hockey team picked up their first win of 2016 with a 3-2 victory over #3 West Chester University on Sunday afternoon.
Box Score
The Hawks (1-1) also received goals from Hannah Friend (North Easton, Mass.) and Maddie Bressler (Franklin, Mass.) in the victory. Friend also added an assist to make it a three-point day, while Erin Collins (Auburn, Mass.) and Leika Scott (Falmouth, Maine) also recorded helpers.
Katherine Sears earned her first win of the season by making eight saves and allowing two goals. Sears made three saves in the final 10 minutes of the game, including a stop on a penalty stroke with less than two minutes to play, to preserve the one goal advantage.
Jennifer Brown (Freeport, Maine) added two more defensive saves to her total for the year as well.
West Chester's Rachal Toppi opened the scoring for the home team as her third tally of the season gave the Golden Rams a 1-0 lead 11:28 into the game. The Hawks answered back nearly 12 minutes later when Collins found Hannah Friend on a corner play for her first career tally.
Less than five minutes later, Friend found Maddie Bressler for her first goal of the season to give the Hawks their first lead of the game at 2-1. On the ensuing West Chester possession, the Golden Rams took less than a minute to go down the field and earn a corner leading to a Dayle Paustian goal that knotted the score at 2-2.
In the second half, the Hawks used a penalty corner to take a 3-2 lead as Leika Scott found Connolly for what proved to be the game-winning goal just over two minutes into the second frame.
West Chester had some chances late as they hit the crossbar and post with shots in the final two minutes of play, but Sears stopped every other scoring chance to keep the Golden Rams off the board and earn the 3-2 win.
West Chester held a 20-7 edge in shots on the day, and earned 14 penalty corners to just four for the Hawks. Sarah Krause took the loss for the Golden Rams, allowing three goals and making two saves.
Saint Anselm returns to action on Thursday night when they travel to Assumption College for a non-league matchup at 7 p.m.
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