For Immediate Release

May 15, 2012

Courtesy of the Saint Anselm Athletics Communications Staff

The NCAA announced recently that the Saint Anselm College field hockey team was one of 20 teams from across the country to win the Division II Community Engagement Award of Excellence for their "Corners for the Cure" breast cancer initiative from October.

"Corners for the Cure" was selected from a pool of more than 300 "Ideas That Work." To go along with its national recognition, the field hockey team will also receive $500 to further its support of community engagement.

The team plans to expand its initiative to include fellow Northeast-10 Conference members next season and hopes to take the movement nationwide the following year.

"I am so proud of our program for being winners of the Division II Community Engagement Award of Excellence," Saint Anselm field hockey head coach Maygan Cassarino said.

"This award symbolizes the heart and determination that our young women possess when they care so deeply about a cause. This award represents what Saint Anselm College is truly about, which is to recognize that we as individuals have the ability to help the community around us, no matter how large or small the task may be."

For each of the team's three home games during the month of October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it would earn money for each penalty corner they were awarded. Each student-athlete on the team had to get a sponsor that would pay $20 for each corner and also chip in another $10 if the team scored off a corner.

Altogether with 17 athletes on the team, penalty corners were worth $340 and corners that led to a goal were worth $510. The total amount of money raised would be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The 29 corners the Hawks earned over the three games were the most during any three-game home stretch that season, but more importantly, raised over $10,000 for breast cancer research and awareness.