Archambault's two strikes fuel second-half surge vs. Bentley

MANCHESTER, N.H. – Junior Joanna Archambault (Andover, Mass.) scored twice in the second half to lift the nationally-ranked Saint Anselm College field hockey team to a 2-0 victory over visiting Bentley University on Wednesday.

The eighth-ranked team in NCAA Division II,

Saint Anselm moves to 6-2 overall on the season and to 4-1 against Northeast-10 Conference competition. Bentley falls to 5-4 on the season and drops to 3-2 versus league opponents on the year – the Falcons have scored just one goal against Saint Anselm across the last seven games of the series.

Saint Anselm now owns a 54-6 record when playing at Grappone Stadium since the start of the 2015 season.

Bentley shut down the Hawks in the first half of play, firing all six of the game's shots through 30 minutes. In fact, the Falcons racked up three of the game's four penalty corners as sophomore goaltender Mackenzie McConnell (Concord Township, Maine) was forced to make four saves in the second quarter alone.

The Hawks broke through just 31 seconds into the second half as Archambault one-touched a ball at the top of the crease past the Bentley netminder. Senior Sarah Bagley (North Andover, Mass.) did well to keep possession on the far side of the field and sent a hard pass from right to left, catching up with Archambault for the goal.

Just minutes later on a penalty corner, Archambault injected the ball to the top of the arc where junior Avery Tucker (Westbrook, Maine) was ready to receive. Firing a blast toward the left post, Archambault was there and ready for the tip home to put her squad up by a 2-0 margin.

Bentley finished with a distinct edge in shots taken (13-to-4), but the Hawks were able to hold on thanks to a six-save performance for McConnell in the Hawks goal. Madison Clark drew the loss for Bentley, making two stops on four shots.