Broncs continue strong form against Manhattan

By Hannah Newman

Women’s soccer brought home another victory after beating Manhattan with a single goal scored on the edge of the 59th minute on Sept. 28. This 1-0 victory for the Broncs has now given them back-to-back wins in conference play.

With her fourth goal, senior midfielder Lindsey Maslow has tied herself with senior forward Makenzie Rodrigues for team lead. Holding parallel success in their game, Maslow managed to score the winning goal on a pass from Rodrigues.

“Scoring the goal felt awesome since we didn’t have too many opportunities, so making the most of it was definitely important,” said Maslow. “Makenzie made a great pass so I was happy to score after our team made a good play to get it up the field.”

This goal came as a sigh of relief for Head Coach Drayson Hounsome, however, coming out of their game against St. Peter’s, the team changed their formation which has allowed Maslow to break out and gain more opportunity on offense.

“Playing with two central strikers provides more support centrally so Maslow is less isolated when playing in the middle,” said Hounsome. “She is further up the field with less defensive responsibility. We were struggling to impose ourselves on the game so the goal relieved some pressure. Morale was positive, but tense for the remainder of the game.”

Making four saves against the Jaspers and leading the conference in shutouts with her fifth shutout of the season, junior goalkeeper Ellie Sciancalepore devoted this game’s achievement to defense.

“When it comes to shutouts, that’s all credit to our defensive unit. Every game is a battle in the MAAC and putting up shutouts in as many games as we can is just one way of getting closer to a MAAC championship,” said Sciancalepore. “We are still in the beginning of the conference season, so keeping this energy and striving for clean sheets each game is vital for us moving forward.”

This game has put Rider in a 13-10 all time lead vs. Manhattan along with bringing the longest winning streak in the series history.

“I thought the team competed hard the entire game, especially after we went up 1-0 to keep the lead. It’s great to get another shutout because that definitely gives us confidence and we are looking forward to the rest of MAAC play,” said Maslow.

The Broncs return home to play two games at Ben Cohen Field against Iona on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m and Fairfield on Oct. 8 at 1 p.m.