WALTHAM, Mass. ­– The Saint Anselm College women's soccer team downed Bentley University by a 1-0 score on Sunday afternoon in the Northeast-10 Conference Quarterfinals.

The sixth-seeded Hawks improve to 10-5-1 on the season while Bentley falls to 8-6-3 on the season. Saint Anselm, who is the fourth-ranked team in the East Region according to United Soccer Coaches will face off with the second seed in the NE10 Playoffs and the eighth-ranked team nationally in the College of Saint Rose on Thursday, Nov. 11.

The Quarterfinals win is the first for the Saint Anselm women's soccer program since Oct. 24, 2006 when the Hawks downed former conference foe UMass Lowell, who now is in the NCAA Division I ranks.

"I am proud of the performance today as the group got a boost when we got a few student-athletes back from injuries and their preparation was incredible for this match," said Head Coach Joel Bancroft. "When we lost four days ago, we felt we could make some adjustments in certain areas to find more success today."

Sophomore Olivia Gotobed (North Andover, Mass.) fired a strike from just inside the 18-yard box, finding the upper right of the goal in the sixth minute, giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead on her team-leading eighth goal of the season.

Rebecca Nguyen nearly answered within the sixth minute as she sent a long shot on frame, but the attempt bounced off the crossbar.

Gotobed had a great opportunity to double the lead in the 20th minute as freshman Josie Pecor (Williston, Vt.) sent a pass into the middle of the box for the sophomore but her one-time shot was right at Falcons goalkeeper Kat Hassapis. Just six minutes later, Gotobed launched a long shot that beat Hassapis, but the crossbar kept the chance out of the goal.

At the end of the first half, Saint Anselm held a 4-1 advantage in shots on goal but were outshot 9-7. Bentley was awarded two corner kicks to just one for the Hawks.

Junior Kathryn White (Georgetown, Mass.) prevented the Falcons equalizer in the 49th minute as Emily McGrath headed a shot on goal. White came sprinting over to make the goal line clearance.

After forcing a turnover, Jillian Hendriksen drove toward goal and gained enough clearance just outside the 18-yard box, firing a shot on junior goalkeeper Kate Macaluso (Malverne, N.Y.) who made the stop, stepping to her right in the 76th minute.

That would stand as the last strong scoring chance for the Falcons who recorded nine shots including three on goal in the second half compared to four and two for the Hawks. For the match, Bentley had 18 shots to 11 for Saint Anselm. Both teams had four corner kicks in the match.

Macaluso registers her sixth shutout of the season, making four saves in the winning effort. That puts her in a tie for sixth in program history for most shutouts in a single season. Hassapis made five saves on six shots on goal.

"The team was sharp and focused the moment they stepped on the bus and they carried it into our warmups and to the start of the match. They believed in the game plan and, more importantly, believed in each other," added Bancroft.