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PREVIEW: No. 6 field hockey opens NE10 postseason versus Pace

10/31/2021 9:15:00 PM

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College field hockey team will play host to Pace University in Monday's Northeast-10 Conference Quarterfinals game at Grappone Stadium. The contest is slated to begin at 4 p.m.

No. 6 SAINT ANSELM COLLEGE HAWKS (14-4, 11-3 NE10)
Roster | Schedule & Results | 2021 Statistics | News

PACE UNIVERSITY SETTERS (13-5, 10-4 NE10)
Roster | Schedule & Results | 2021 Statistics | News

Saint Anselm finished the regular season with a 14-4 overall record alongside a mark of 11-3 in NE10 play, tying with Stonehill for third place in the standings. The Skyhawks were able to defeat the Hawks during the regular season, winning the tiebreaker to give Stonehill sole possession of the No. 3 seed.

The fifth-seeded Setters own an overall record of 13-5 and played to a 10-4 record in league play. Pace did battle with the Hawks earlier this season on Saturday, Sept. 11 – in that game, Saint Anselm came away with a 1-0 overtime win at Grappone Stadium thanks to a game-winning goal by senior Sarah Bagley (North Andover, Mass.).

Saint Anselm has qualified for each of the last six NE10 postseasons and won its first league title in 2019 on the way to finishing as the National Runner-Up in NCAA Division II. The Hawks finished that season with an NCAA Division II record 20 shutouts.

Live Statistics and Live Video are available for Saturday's showdown at Grappone Stadium. Evan Alfano will have the call on the webcast via the NE10 Now Network.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

  • Saint Anselm is tied with Kutztown for the No. 6 ranking nationally, according to the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division II National Coaches' Poll released on Oct. 26. In the regional rankings, the Hawks find themselves second out of five teams as of Oct. 24, 2021.
  • The Hawks have posted 29 shutouts (nine this season) in the team's last 41 games since the start of the 2019 season. The Hawks finished the year as the national runner-up in NCAA Division II and set a record for shutouts in a season (20), winning each of their games without conceding a goal.
  • The Hawks are 9-0 when playing at home this season and have won 30 of the last 32 games played at Grappone Stadium since the start of the 2018 season. Only one of those two defeats has come at the expense of an NE10 team (vs. No. 5 Stonehill, 10/17/18, 2-1 OTL).
  • The most recent loss to an NE10 program at home came on Nov. 3, 2017, a 3-2 double-overtime defeat against LIU Post in the NE10 Semifinals. The last regulation defeat versus a conference opponent on the Hilltop was against Merrimack on Oct. 4, 2017 (4-2).
  • Sophomore Mackenzie McConnell (Concord Township, Maine) ranks first among all NCAA Division II goalkeepers with an .865 save percentage and an 0.56 goals-against average. As a team, Saint Anselm netminders have combined to post the nation's fifth-best goals-against average (0.83) and the sixth-finest save percentage (.813).
  • Saint Anselm ranks third in NCAA Division II with 0.47 shutouts per game, trailing just Shippensburg (0.67) and Assumption (0.53) in that metric. A stout Hawks midfield has limited its goalkeepers to just 3.59 saves per game.
  • Senior Carly LaCasse (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) scored each of her team's two goals in her team's most recent game against New Haven – with the game-winning goal, she now has 11 in her Saint Anselm career, establishing a new team record. She broke the previous mark of 10, equaled by both Michelle Lemelin '20 and Allia Connolly '18.
  • For her career, LaCasse has now scored 31 goals and nine assists for 71 career points (31-9=71) to rank fourth all-time in Saint Anselm career history and requires just four additional points of offense to jump to second. This season, LaCasse leads the team with 11 goals and two assists for 24 points (11-2=24).
  • Sophomore Maddie Davis (Exeter, N.H.) has broken out with five goals and three assists for 13 points (5-3=13), ranking second on the team in point production. Junior Maeve Murphy (Scituate, Mass.) has five goals and two assists for 12 points (5-2=12) and three other Hawks student-athletes have at least 10 points of offense on the year.
  • Across the previous five games, Saint Anselm has allowed just 16 shot attempts by the opposition – only seven of those chances have been placed on goal. The Hawks own the advantage in shot differential, 98-to-16.
  • Carolyn King-Robitaille, in the midst of her 10th season as Head Coach at Saint Anselm has won 119 games with just 58 losses (.672) in her tenure on the Hilltop. Prior to King-Robitaille's hiring at Saint Anselm in 2012, the Hawks were a combined 49-139 (.261) since the team's debut as a varsity offering in 2001.

PREVIEWING PACE

  • Pace carries a six-game winning streak into play on Monday. The team lost three of its five games from Sept. 7 through Sept. 14 with each of those defeats coming by 1-0 scores – the game against the Hawks on Sept. 11 was decided in overtime while the one-goal losses at Bloomsburg and versus New Haven were regulation defeats.
  • Pace too Bentley to overtime on Friday, Oct. 8 before falling by a 3-2 margin. The team's other loss came to nationally-ranked Assumption on Saturday, Sept. 25 – the Greyhounds recently claimed the NE10's Regular Season Championship after completing an undefeated season in league play (14-0).
  • Krista Dietz leads the NE10 in goals per game, averaging 1.06 per game to rank third in NCAA Division II in that statistic. Her 2.29 points per game is second in the NE10 and fourth nationally, trailing just Jenna Puleo from Saint Michael's (2.41) among conference student-athletes.
  • Pace goalkeeper Grace Henderson ranks seventh nationally in both goals-against average (1.11) and save percentage (.798). She earned NE10 Rookie of the Year honors in 2018 for her work.
  • Pace is led by Kayte Kinsley, the 2018 NE10 Coach of the Year and only the second coach that the Setters have known. She won her 50th career game earlier this season against American International on Sept. 4.
  • Joining the varsity ranks in 2015, Pace posted six wins in its first campaign and then logged its first .500 season (9-9) in 2016. In 2017 and 2018, however, the Setters broke out for 33 wins in 40 games and made their mark on the national field hockey landscape. Just four members of the 2018 roster remain on the team.
  • The Setters won just six games in 2019, one season removed from downing Saint Anselm by a 6-1 margin in the First Round of the NCAA Division II Championship. Pace would eventually lose to the No. 2 seeded Warriors from East Stroudsburg University in the National Semifinals. 

ALL-TIME, NE10 POSTSEASON

  • Saint Anselm owns a 7-5 record in the NE10 postseason all-time and has made it to the NE10 Championship game on three occasions. The Hawks are the defending NE10 postseason champions, defeating Southern New Hampshire by a 2-0 margin in November 2019.
  • Saint Anselm has won five of its last six NE10 playoff games with its only defeat coming at Merrimack in 2018 in the league's title game. Two of the program's five losses have come in overtime.
  • Pace is 0-2 in the NE10 playoffs in program history. After claiming the 2018 Regular Season Championship, the Setters were upset by No. 8 seeded Assumption by a 1-0 margin. The Greyhounds also edged Pace in overtime during the 2017 playoffs, 2-1.

ALL-TIME vs. PACE

  • The Hawks own a 5-2 edge in the all-time series that dates back to the first year of field hockey at Pace in 2015.
  • Saint Anselm won the first three games against Pace but dropped a 2-1 decision to the Setters in Pleasantville, N.Y. during the 2018 regular season.
  • Pace finished that year with an unblemished record in NE10 regular-season play (13-0) and later downed the Hawks by a 6-1 score in the First Round of the NCAA postseason.
  • The Hawks rebounded with a convincing 4-0 victory over the Setters on Oct. 12, 2019. LaCasse had a hand in each goal scored in the shutout as the Hawks enjoyed a 29-1 advantage in shots.
  • Earlier this season, Bagley scored the game-winning goal in overtime to send the Hawks to a 1-0 victory over Pace. McConnell earned the victory in goal for Saint Anselm, making two saves for her first collegiate shutout. Pace finished with seven of the game's 12 penalty corners, but the shots were 18-6 in favor of Saint Anselm.
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