The plot of the Hawk-Penman rivalry between Saint Anselm and SNHU just got a whole lot thicker, folks. It was announced last week that the Student-Athlete Advisory Committees of both schools have capitalized on the deep-rooted competitive spirit in games between the Hawks and Penmen in the form of the newly established “Queen City Cup”.

The two teams will go head to head in 16 different sports during the three-season year and a special point system has been developed to ultimately crown the athletic champions of the Queen City. The gist of the point system is simple: whenever a Saint Anselm team faces off against our SNHU rivals, in any athletic area, the winning team will be awarded two points, or one point each in the case of a tie. However, teams such as volleyball and basketball, who take on SNHU more than once during the regular season, will be awarded their points based on the winners of the overall series against the Penmen. Postseason action will be counted separately and will award the winners two points, in addition to the ones earned during the regular season. Also, in the case of sports like cross country and golf, points will be awarded to the team with the stronger finish in the Northeast-10 Championship.

Now I’ll bet you didn’t know that our cross-town rivalry dates all the way back to May 5, 1969, when our Hawks claimed an overwhelming 9-0 tennis victory over the Penmen. Since that historic display of Hawk dominance, Saint Anselm athletes went on to clinch 8 of 12 initial meetings against SNHU teams, with the most recent being a 16-7 Hawk victory following the 2004 development of a SNHU women’s lacrosse team.

Our teams have gotten off to a slow start this year, with four losses so far to the Penmen in volleyball, men’s tennis, and men’s soccer. But we have faith that the Hawks will prevail and bring the first Queen City Cup to the hilltop!

Catch the first ever face off between Saint Anselm and SNHU field hockey at noon on October 25th on home turf at Grappone Stadium. We want the Cup!