MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's soccer team tallied two goals in less than a minute in the second half as the Hawks defeated Daemen College by a 3-1 score on Wednesday afternoon.
The Hawks improve to 2-1 on the season while the Wildcats fall to 1-3. Saint Anselm returns to the pitch on Saturday, Sept. 18 at Adelphi. The Northeast-10 Conference match is slated to start at 3 p.m.
Saint Anselm controlled the pace in the first half, outshooting the Wildcats by a 9-1 margin. The Hawks added four corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes.
Tori DeLappi made two saves to keep the match scoreless.
In the 50th minute, the Hawks broke through and recorded the first goal of the contest. Freshman
Riley Digilio (Danvers, Mass.) won the first touch from a goal kick. A Wildcat defender redirected the pass to sophomore
Reagan Meehan (Harwich, Mass.). She was pressured immediately and another Wildcats defender deflected a pass intended for the middle of the field. However, the ricochet found senior
Regan Pratt (Newburyport, Mass.) who drove toward goal and buried her first tally of the season.
Just 59 seconds later, the Hawks doubled their lead. Freshman
Sydney Wnek (Haverhill, Mass.) registered her team-leading second goal on the season. Wnek collected a cross from Pratt and sent a high-arching shot over DeLappi and into the upper right of the goal. Freshman
Anna Rigby (Marblehead, Mass.) started the play and sent a ball forward for Pratt. Rigby earned her first career point on the play.
The second half scoring frenzy would continue as Daemen got on the board in the 54th minute. After the Hawks deflected a ball out of play,
Katja Meyer threw the ball into
Grace Stranahan. Stranahan surveyed quickly and fired a shot from about 30 yards out that went off the hands of junior
Kate Macaluso (Malverne, N.Y.) and into the goal, making the score 2-1.
The squads battled for control until the Hawks were awarded a free-kick in the 77th minute. A foul deep in the Daemen defensive half allowed senior
Olivia Maier (Sherborn, Mass.) to start the play. She launched a ball toward the right post and the bending shot found its way into the back of the net for her first career goal.
The Hawks closed out the remaining time on the clock to notch a 3-1 win in their final non-conference match of the season.
In the contest, the Hawks outshot the Wildcats, 21-5, and held an 8-2 lead in shots on goal. Saint Anselm drew five corner kicks to two for Daemen.
Macaluso improves to 2-1 on the season after making one save in the winning effort. DeLappi made five saves and falls to 1-3.
