Pleasantville, N.Y. -- St. Anselm held off a late Pace rally as the Hawks came away with a 17-13 win over the Setters at Pace Field on Saturday afternoon in Northeast-10 action.

The Hawks improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the Northeast-10.

The Hawks got on the board first as Dan Bohenek recovered a fumble at midfield and the Hawks converted a 23-yard field goal by freshman Zack McCabe for the early 3-0 lead. Pace took the lead early in the second quarter as Nathaniel Ford rumbled in from 2 yards out for the 7-3 edge.

St, Anselm answered back with a touchdown of its own as Ryan Fritch caught a pass across the middle from Michael Pierce for the 10-7 lead. Both teams had scoring chances later in the quarter, but were unable to convert as the game headed into halftime at 10-7 in favor of the visitors.

The Hawks added to the lead early in the second half as Pierce found Marc Wilson in the back of the end zone to push the lead to 17-7.

Pace inched closer as Andrew Kulak hauled in a 3-yard scoring pass from Ray Gregg with 11:09 to go in the game. The extra-point attempt was blocked by freshman Dale DeGraw to keep the score at 17-13 in favor of the Hawks.

Pace had plenty of chances in the final quarter to pull out the victory, including a pair of trips into the red zone. The final scoring drive by the Setters came to a screeching halt in the end zone as freshman linebacker Ethan Sylvain picked off Gregg in the corner of the end zone for a key turnover.

Pierce finished the game 13 for 24 for 197 yards and two touchdowns, while Wilson had 68 receiving yards and one score. Defensively, DeGraw led the way with 11 tackles, while Sylvain finished with seven tackles and a pair of interceptions.

St. Anselm will return to action Saturday, when the Hawks will host Merrimack (1 p.m.).