Saint Anselm Scores Late to Clip Bentley, 3-2
Waltham, Mass. – Saint Anselm's Kiley Larocque scored with just 56 seconds left to break a 2-2 tie to give the Hawks a 3-2 victory over Bentley on Wednesday afternoon.
Bentley mostly controlled the game and created more scoring chances, but the Hawks were able to knick it in the end on Larocque's goal, which came from a finish inside the six yard box after a cross came in from the left wing, off a throw-in.
Earlier, the Falcons twice answered goals from Saint Anselm to tie the score on two different occasions.
Saint Anselm first grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minutes. Junior Carly Farina scored the goal after teammate Corinne Galarneau collected a loose ball near the 18 yard box, and Farina scored on a low shot to the near post.
Bentley's best two chances of the half came after the goal. A hard shot by freshman Emily McGrath (Brewster, Mass./Brewster) from the top of the 18 yard box was saved by Payton Wildrick, one of her six first half saves. Late in the half, Megan Doubleday (Wolcott, Conn./Wolcott) had a shot on an open net just cleared off the line by a Hawks defender at the last second.
Bentley though got the breakthrough just after halftime on junior Stephanie Helin's (Manchester, Conn./East Catholic) 4th goal of the season. After a cross in from the right wing from Alyssa Valente (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan), Helin first had a shot blocked just in front of the goal, but knocked in the rebound to tie the score in the 49th minute.
However just over one minute later, a breakaway for the Hawks led to a penalty kick being awarded, and Farina converted it to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead.
Bentley responded in the 56th minute on sophomore Emma Guccione's (Holliston, Mass./Holliston) goal. Valente fed her a pass across the top of the 18 yard box. Guccione then had time to tee up a shot, which she ripped into the upper left corner to tie the score 2-2.
The teams battled back in forth for the next 34-plus minutes until the final goal by Larocque.
Bentley (2-3-2, 1-3-1) will look to bounce back on Saturday when they travel to Saint Michael's.