MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's soccer team was toppled by visiting Stonehill College on Saturday by a 3-2 margin at Grappone Stadium.
The regionally-ranked Hawks fall to 9-4-1 overall on the year and to 7-4-1 versus Northeast-10 Conference opponents. The Skyhawks move to 7-8-1 on the year and to 4-6-1 against league teams.
Saint Anselm concludes the regular season on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at Bentley. The Hawks are tied with the Falcons and Franklin Pierce for third place in the NE10 standings heading into the regular-season finale for both Bentley and Saint Anselm.
"Tonight's match was always going to be a difficult one," said Head Coach Joel Bancroft following the defeat. "We were on very short rest and Stonehill is a good side that are fighting for their playoff lives. We knew we would get the best from them. We failed to match their competitive fire from the first minute as we were second to almost every ball."
In the team's first home game on turf this season, Saint Anselm conceded the first two goals of the game as the Skyhawks never looked back, eventually capturing a 3-2 victory despite a late attempt at a Hawks rally.
Camryn Thompson got her team on the board first at 10:42 as a long-range blast eluded the grasp of Hawks goalkeeper Kate Macaluso (Malverne, N.Y.). She doubled her team's lead to open the second half, putting home a shot off the crossbar by Megan Giambanco for her 10th goal of the season.
The Hawks were fouled in the Stonehill box shortly thereafter and the hosts had a fantastic chance to cut into the lead, but a penalty kick by Saint Anselm was saved by Stonehill keeper Mia Jackson, who ended up locking down her first collegiate victory in goal.
Senior Regan Pratt (Newburyport, Mass.) did eventually cut into the Stonehill lead in the game's 74th minute, collecting a nice pass from sophomore Olivia Gotobed (North Andover, Mass.) through the midfield and taking it right to goal to shrink the deficit to 2-1 just minutes after the penalty kick miss.
Stonehill responded right back, scoring less than two minutes later off a goal from Lauren Clement that was set up by a chip pass by Emma Slade that bounced high off the turf and over the Hawks defense.
Freshman Riley DiGilio (Danvers, Mass.) knocked home her first career goal for Saint Anselm with exactly six minutes left in regulation time, but the deficit was too much for the Hawks to overcome.
"We made adjustments in the second half and pulled the game back to us," said Bancroft, "but we lacked the execution needed to come all the way back. The team fought valiantly to claw back two goals and earn a penalty but, again, we didn't capitalize in the games largest moments."
Macaluso finished with three saves on six shots for Saint Anselm. Jackson's victory came after making four saves on six Hawks shots.
"As we push towards the postseason, we are chasing lofty goals, the likes of which haven't been achieved before," said Bancroft. "The margin of error in the NE10 is paper thin and if you don't bring an elite level of competitive fire and execution, you're made to pay for it. Tough lesson for us tonight – full credit to Stonehill for being better on the evening."
