Just In The Nick Of Time

By Eric Malave

The women’s soccer team definitely has shown its skill and ability in their games, which was seen when the team was able to pull out a 2-1 overtime road victory against Delaware State University (2-3-1).

The Broncs (5-4-3 overall, 1-1 MAAC) played an aggressive first half on Tuesday. Though some of their attempts to score failed, they applied relentless pressure.

Junior Kayla Devlin scored for the Broncs only 9:30 into the first half, giving Rider the lead 1-0. She was assisted by a corner kick from freshman Lauren Musumeci. This was Devlin’s fifth career goal.

Unfortunately for the Broncs, Delaware State eventually broke through Rider’s defense. Throughout the game, Delaware State’s forwards created problems for the Broncs, which became costly late in the second half.
With the score tied at 1-1, the game was pushed into overtime.

Only 25 seconds into the extra period, junior Lauren Mahar scored the winning goal, ending the game 2-1.

“I was a little disappointed that the game was carried into overtime to begin with, but I was confident that we would come out on top,” said Mahar. “I knew that all we had to do was go out with intensity and play our style and we’d come out with the win.”

The Broncs outshot Delaware State 16-9.

This game would be the team’s last non-conference game of the regular season. The team finished the non-conference schedule with a record of 4-3-3.

This is not the only success that has come the Broncs’ way. Last Friday, the team had a convincing 5-0 win over St. Peter’s in another non-conference game.

It was just over a minute into the game when Rider scored the first goal. Freshman Kara Perkoski scored for the Broncs with an assist from Musumeci. This was Perkoski’s first collegiate goal.

It was an excellent way to start the game with momentum and the goals did not stop there.

Perkoski also had the second goal, scoring her first two collegiate goals within the first 15 minutes of the game. This time the assist came from Mahar.

Devlin, Matricardi, and Musumeci would go on to score the next three goals for the team and extended the lead to 5-0. Seniors Michelle Ripoll and Amy Vinarsky assisted their teammates with their goals.

On Sunday, the Broncs hosted their 10th year of women’s varsity soccer against Manhattan (4-3-4 overall, 1-0-1) in an important MAAC.

Many alumni were there to support the Rider soccer team, which has grown over the last six years.

The colleges have had a history since 1997, with Rider going 3-6-3 against Manhattan in those 10 years.
Unfortunately, the Broncs came up short again as the Jaspers won 1-0.

Rider was outshot by Manhattan 12-7, while freshman goalkeeper Alex Post made six saves for the Broncs.
Rider’s next MAAC game is on the road against Loyola on Saturday.

“In order for us to be successful in our future Conference games we need to settle down and play our style of soccer,” said Mahar. “Our conference games are going to be tough but we know that if we play hard and up to our potential, we’ll win games.”