MANCHESTER, N.H. – The nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College field hockey team will play for a Northeast-10 Conference Championship on Sunday, hosting Southern New Hampshire University at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 10 at Grappone Stadium.

LINK: Embrace the Victory: Saint Anselm Earns Top Seed in NE10 Field Hockey Championship
LINK: NE10 Field Hockey Championship Central
FOLLOW ALONG: Live Video | Live Stats

Making its second consecutive NE10 Championship game appearance on Sunday, the Hawks will be battling fellow Queen City institution, Southern New Hampshire. Neither team has an NE10 title to their credit as the Hawks have lost twice before in the final game of the league's postseason. The Penmen are making their first appearance in the title game.

Saint Anselm, the NE10 Regular Season Championship winners, improved to 18-2 on the year with a 1-0 victory over the Greyhounds from Assumption College on Friday. The Hawks, ranked third in NCAA Division II according to the National Field Hockey Coaches Association, will oppose the sixth-ranked Penmen program that overwhelmed Saint Thomas Aquinas, 4-0, on Friday in semifinals action.

After logging a 13-1 mark against league foes during the regular season, Saint Anselm continued to dominate defensively in the playoffs by recording their 17th and 18th shutouts in the NE10 quarterfinals and semifinals. Only one goal has been scored by an NE10 opponent versus the Hawks this season.

Versus the fifth-seeded Greyhounds in the NE10 Semifinals on Friday, the top-seeded Hawks used a fourth quarter goal from senior Mary Nee (Canton, Mass.) to put Saint Anselm on top for good. On a penalty corner injected by senior Michelle Lemelin (Windham, Maine), classmate Kaeleigh Lord (Keene, N.H.) settled the ball and sent a pass to her right for Nee to tee up.

Against Franklin Pierce in the NE10 Quarterfinals on Tuesday, Lemelin put Saint Anselm ahead by a 1-0 score in the game's 24th minute. Freshman Avery Tucker (Westbrook, Maine) rounded out the scoring in the fourth quarter, putting the Ravens away with her first career goal off a penalty stroke. Saint Anselm enjoyed a 19-0 advantage in shots, holding its third opponent of 2019 without a shot against.

Per NE10 regulations, admission will be charged for all postseason games. Tickets for adults will cost $6.00 with children and senior citizens (65+) priced at $4.00. Students will be charged $1.00 with the presentation of valid identification from an NE10-member institution. Saint Anselm students will be admitted to the contest free of charge, compliments of Saint Anselm Athletics.

Free video and live stats of Tuesday's contest will be available on SaintAnselmHawks.com and via the NE10 Now Network and SaintAnselmHawks.tv.

Three teams from each of the two NCAA Division II regions, East and Atlantic, will qualify for the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championship that begins on Saturday, Nov. 16 with First Round action. The remaining four teams will compete for a national title starting on Friday, Nov. 22 at Millersville University.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

• Saint Anselm moved up one spot to third in the latest National Field Hockey Coaches Association rankings, matching its all-time high. The Hawks were ranked as high as third earlier this season to equal a program record originally accomplished in the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
• After ranking second in the first iteration of the NCAA Division II East Region official rankings, Saint Anselm found itself ranked atop the East Region in the latest edition revealed earlier this week. The Hawks traded places with former No. 1-ranked Adelphi, who had lost two out of three entering the second week of the rankings.
• Senior Anna Drakeley (Woodbury, Conn.) was named the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year on Wednesday with junior Julia Hand (Reading, Mass.) earning NE10 Goalkeeper of the Year merits. Head Coach Carolyn King-Robitaille was also named the NE10 Coach of the Year for the third time in her career.
• Drakeley, Hand and senior Hannah Friend (North Easton, Mass.) earned placement on the First Team All-Conference list with Lord and sophomore Carly LaCasse (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) locking down Second Team All-NE10 honors. Freshman Maeve Murphy (Scituate, Mass.) picked up a spot on the conference's All-Rookie Team.
• The Hawks have conceded only four goals all season, outscoring their opponents by a 64-to-4 margin. Against NE10 opponents, Saint Anselm has allowed only one goal and that was to Assumption in the Greyhounds' 1-0 victory in Worcester – in that contest, the hosts went ahead with a goal off of a penalty corner with 1:39 to go in regulation time.
• Since the start of the 2015 season, the Hawks have compiled an overall record of 82-21 (.796). When playing at Grappone Stadium, Saint Anselm has lost only six out of a possible 55 games during that span (.902).
• King-Robitaille, in her eighth season at the helm of the program, earned the prestigious National Coach Award, presented by USA Field Hockey, on Mar. 17, 2018.
• Prior to King-Robitaille's hiring at Saint Anselm, the Hawks were a combined 49-139 (.261) since the team's debut as a varsity offering in 2001. She won her 100th career game to cap the regular season with a 6-0 blanking of Saint Thomas Aquinas on Saturday. Her all-time win/loss record on the Hilltop is 102-53 (.658).
• Entering Friday's NE10 Semifinals game against Assumption, Saint Anselm led all of NCAA Division II in team goals-against average (0.21), save percentage (0.875) and shutouts per game (0.89). The team's winning percentage (0.895) and scoring margin (3.11) were second nationally and the Hawks number of assists per game (2.05) and scoring average (3.32) ranked third in the country.
• Saint Anselm set a single-season record with its 18th overall victory of the season last time out against Assumption. The 18 shutouts in 2019 are more double the previous team record of eight, accomplished twice before.
• Since the start of the 2016 season, the Hawks have had three student-athletes earn Defensive Player of the Year honors from the NE10 (Elizabeth Alie '17, Erin Collins '18, Anna Drakeley '19). After missing the entire 2018 season due to injury, Drakeley has guided a defensive unit that has conceded only four goals all season and allowed only 36 opposing shots on net.
• Drakeley has won Defensive Player of the Week awards on four occasions from three organizations (2x Northeast-10, NFHCA, Synapse Sports). Lord became a two-time winner of NE10 Defensive Player of the Week honors earlier this week and was named Synapse Sports Defensive Player of the Week this past Tuesday.
• Hand owns a goals-against average of 0.18 and a save percentage of 0.893, leading all of NCAA Division II and the Northeast-10 Conference in both statistics. In 56 games played for Saint Anselm, Hand owns a 44-12 record (.786) and has logged 21 shutouts which stands as a program record.
• Friend notched two goals and an assist for five points (2-1=5) against Saint Thomas Aquinas on Saturday, becoming the first student-athlete in team history to reach 100 career points. She is the program's all-time career leader in points per game (1.20), goals (37), assists (27) and assists per game (0.32).
• Friend ranks third in the NE10 with 0.45 assists per game as a senior. Her 1.45 points per game in 2019 stands as the ninth-best mark in the NE10 and her 0.50 goals per game is 12th in the league.
• Friend has seen action in 84 career games for the Hawks, extending her program record for appearances which was originally set and held by Brooke Haskell '19 with 82.
• LaCasse is eighth in the NE10 with 0.60 goals per game and 10th in the league with 1.47 points per contest. She is in the midst of a career season, scoring 12 goals, six of the game-winning variety, and four assists for 28 points (12-4=28) across 20 games played. For her career, she has 20 goals in 42 career games and is averaging north of a point per game.
• LaCasse's six game-winning goals in 2019 are the most in a single season by any Hawks student-athlete. She has already cracked the program's top-10 list for career scoring, doing so in only her sophomore season. She is tied for ninth all-time with 46 career points (20-6=46), equaling Colleen Sears '16 and her totals of 19 goals and eight assists (19-8=46).
• Lemelin has scored a career-high nine goals and five assists for 23 points (9-5=23). She ranks fifth all-time with 58 points, matching Allia Connolly '18 and her career output.
• Junior Ericka Meissner (Falmouth, Mass.) and Nee have each logged career seasons for the Hawks. Meissner has posted eight goals and four assists for 20 points (8-4=20) to date and Nee has scored six goals with as many assists for 17 points (6-5=17). Four of Nee's six 2019 goals have been game-winning strikes.
• Murphy has seen action in all 20 games as a freshman, making her collegiate debut at Franklin Pierce on Sept. 5. She logged her first collegiate goal at New Haven on Sept. 28 and added markers against Southern Conn. St. and St. Thomas Aquinas. Murphy is the fifth student-athlete in the last three seasons from Saint Anselm to earn placement on the league's All-Rookie roster.
• Drakeley, Friend and Lord will represent Saint Anselm at the NFHCA Division II Senior Game. In total, 17 student-athletes from Saint Anselm since 2004 have been named to the roster as either a starter or an alternate – Maddie Bressler '19 and Brooke Haskell '19 were participants last year.
• Offensively, Saint Anselm is generating 8.45 points per game, trailing only the 2017 Hawks figure of 10.60 per contest.

SCOUTING SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE

• The Penmen, guided by sixth-year Head Coach Julie Munson, enter Sunday's NE10 Championship riding an 11-game winning streak. Southern New Hampshire boasts a record of 17-3 after tripping up Saint Thomas Aquinas in convincing fashion on Friday, 4-0, at Larkin Field.
• Prior to the 2014 season, Munson revived a Southern New Hampshire field hockey outfit that was dormant since the late-1970's. After logging a combined record of 3-33 in her first two seasons, she has dramatically improved the team with a 44-30 record (.603) in the past four seasons.
• Entering Friday's contest against Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Penmen ranked second nationally in points per game (8.79) and in goals per game (3.37). The team's 2.05 assists per game were the nation's third-best mark while the team was fourth in the country with a 3.26 scoring average and an 0.842 winning percentage.
• Senior Laura van der Doorn was named the NE10 Player of the Year and freshman Lisa Hagel earned Rookie of the Year honors from the league on Wednesday. van der Doorn ranks third in the NE10 with 35 points this season (15-5=35) while Hagel is fourth in the league with 30 points off of 13 goals and four assists (13-4=30).
• Hélène Servais, an NE10 First Team All-Conference pick, became the first student-athlete from Southern New Hampshire to reach 40 points in a season, reaching that plateau last time out against Saint Thomas Aquinas. She finds herself atop the NE10 leaderboard with 15 goals (tied for first), 12 assists and 42 points.
• Sophomore Emily Campbell and Melanie Rennie each locked down Third Team honors from the NE10 on Wednesday. Campbell ranks eighth in the league with 28 points via nine goals and 10 assists while Rennie has held down the goaltending job for the Penmen, logging an 0.81 goals-against average and a .792 save percentage.

ALL-TIME, NE10 TOURNAMENT

• The Hawks are making their sixth appearance in the NE10 postseason and third appearance in the league's championship game. Saint Anselm is 6-5 in the conference postseason in team history.
• In 2018, the Hawks powered past Southern N.H. in the NE10 Quarterfinals (W, 4-2, Nov. 13, 2019) – the Penmen were making their NE10 postseason debut in that contest. In the NE10 Semifinals, Assumption was tripped up by a 3-2 score on Nov. 16. In the NE10 Championship game, Saint Anselm fell to No. 5-ranked Merrimack by a 2-1 score on a penalty corner goal with regulation time expired.
• The Hawks have entered the postseason as the Regular Season Champions in three out of the last four years. The most recent regular season champion to win the conference tournament championship was LIU Post in 2013.
• Saint Anselm finished as the NE10 Tournament runner-up in 2016, falling to LIU Post by a 2-1 margin in overtime.

ALL-TIME vs. SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Saint Anselm is a commanding 10-0 all-time against Southern New Hampshire since the first meeting on Oct. 25, 2014. The Hawks own a 30-9 goal differential in the all-time series, but the last three games have been decided by two or fewer goals.