Broncs come up short, losers of five straight

By Kadie DiGiuseppe, Liliana R. Basile, Emma Geremia-Hartigan

Things are not going well for Rider as it lost five straight games. On Sept. 19, the struggling Broncs fell short to the Stonehill University Skyhawks in overtime, 4-3. Later down the road, the Broncs faced a 2-1 loss by the Towson University Tigers on Sept. 21, marking the first time since the 1999 season that field hockey has gone on a five-game losing streak. 

‘There’s a lack of focus’

Rider field hockey put together an exciting offensive play but came up short, falling 4–3 in a close matchup against Stonehill.

The Broncs wasted no time getting on the board. Less than seven minutes into the game, senior forward Valeria Perales struck first, finishing off a pass from senior defender Megan Normile to give Rider an early 1–0 lead. The quick goal gave the Broncs momentum and they continued to control the pace through the opening quarter.

Perales was not done. In the second quarter, she scored again, doubling Rider’s advantage and securing her second goal of the day. 

After halftime, Rider found itself in a back-and-forth contest, but the Broncs kept pressing and eventually earned a penalty strike in the fourth quarter. Normile stepped up and delivered, burying the shot to tie the game at 3–3 with just over six minutes to play. Her performance capped off a strong day which she not only converted from the stroke line, but also set up Rider’s opening goal.

Even though the Broncs could not find a late equalizer after Stonehill went back ahead, Rider’s attack showed plenty of positives.

The game also showed Rider’s resilience. After giving up the lead in the second half, the Broncs did not fold, instead battling back to tie the game and keep themselves in it until the final minutes.

“We need to work harder and fix all of those mistakes we made today,” Perales said, “Just try to keep it up during the whole game, playing hard, making passes and scoring.”

Head Coach Gina Carey-Smith found the first two quarters of the game pleasurable but something went wrong in the later stages.

“We played well in the first two quarters and then something drastically went wrong in the third quarter. We just can’t put our finger on it,” Carey-Smith said, “The bounce back happens quickly… We’ll watch film tonight as coaches… tomorrow the focal point is trying to fix what happened today.”

Went down swinging

On Sept. 21, the Broncs traveled to Maryland to take on the Towson Tigers after Rider’s unfortunate loss to their first Northeast Conference opponent of the year.

Rider looked to regain its footing after the previous four losses but was quickly reminded of the offensive power Towson had. 

With that, the Tigers struck first, less than two minutes into regulation and continued its momentum in the first quarter. 

Even though the Broncs worked to get senior forward Semra Said and Normile a shot at the cage, Towson ended the first quarter with a 2-0 lead, adding on its second goal in the 13th minute. 

Sophomore forward Anna Finn was the only Bronc to take a chance at the goal in the second quarter while the Broncs held the Tigers offense to a standstill.

In the third quarter Rider was outshot 9-3 but the most meaningful shot was taken by Finn, giving Rider its first points of the game and saving its chances of a shutout. 

Towson took four consecutive shots in the fourth quarter to solidify its win but the Broncs tried to fight back with another shot taken by Said. 

Perales was the last hope for the Broncs to send the game to overtime after she obtained a corner shot with less than a minute left. However, Rider was left high and dry once again. 

Towson outperformed Rider 17-9 during the game while starting sophomore goalie Jade Regnart added on seven more saves for the season. 

The Broncs will play another NEC opponent on Sept. 26 when they host the University of New Haven at 4 p.m.