Broncs lose back-to-back on the road.
By Rich Saile and Dain Smith
With the regular season winding down for Rider lacrosse, the team dropped both of its road games against Iona 14-11 and Quinnipiac 18-13 to drop to 8-5 on the season.
‘Poor decisions’
Rider scored four straight goals and tied the game early in the fourth, but it wasn’t enough, with Iona winning 14-11 Wednesday afternoon.
The Broncs moved to 8-4 and 2-2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, while the Gaels moved to 8-3 and look to be a top team in the MAAC going 3-1.
Rider started off by giving the game’s opening goal to Iona, but it didn’t stop graduate student attacker and reigning offensive MAAC player of the week Kylee Garcia from scoring in the back up the net to tie the game 1-1.
Shortly after Garcia’s point, junior midfielder Selena Carrington scored a pair of goals to give the Broncs the lead at 2-1 and 3-2.
The Gaels’ defense tightened on the Broncs, holding Rider scoreless for almost 15 minutes, with Iona scoring three times to flip the script and take the lead 5-2.
Finally the Broncs got on the board, once again ending the drought with a Garcia goal late in the second.
Garcia then found sophomore midfielder Katie Walsh to cut the lead to just one making it 6-5.
The Gaels would score once again making it 7-5 at halftime.
Early in the third quarter the Gaels started off with a bang, scoring twice to stretch the lead to 9-5.
Rider knew it had to make a change in the game plan defensively, which it did, holding Iona scoreless for 16 minutes.
With yet another goal to add on to her already decorated Rider career, Walsh has reached 200 career goals.
“My personal opinion is Katie is one of the top players in the country,” said Head Coach Evan Mager. “Katie is just simply proving she can play at any level and play with the best of the best.”
Graduate student attacker Anna Devlin also got a goal and two assists, with a goal and assist from freshman midfielder Elena Bontatibus, tying the game 9-9. Iona swiftly got back on track, scoring three times in just 2:07 and taking a 12-9 lead over the Broncs.
Even with a goal from Walsh and graduate student attacker Emily Wesoky, it was not enough, making the score within two points.
“I thought there was points in the game that we made some poor decisions that allowed Iona to score on us, but overall we played a great game and battled every minute of the game,” said Mager.
0-2 road trip
Looking to get back on track after the loss at Iona, the Broncs traveled to Connecticut to take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats.
The Broncs got the first goal of the game thanks to junior attacker Toni Gismondi 53 seconds in. The Bobcats quickly responded by scoring the first of four goals in a five-minute stretch.
Garcia would give the Broncs back the lead with her second goal of the game, but Quinnipiac finished the first quarter, tying the game at 5 apiece.
In the second, the Broncs regained the lead off a free position shot by Garcia to put the Broncs up 6-5. Quinnipiac would end the half scoring three goals, bringing the Bobcats up 8-6 going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, the Broncs forced a turnover with a ground-ball pickup by Walsh, and Carrington scored her second goal of the game off a clear attempt. Quinnipiac scored three straight goals to increase its lead to four. The Broncs then scored three goals in a row to cut Quinnipiac’s lead down to a goal. Walsh scored her second goal of the game and Garcia added her fourth, while freshman attacker Maggie Hance scored her first goal of the match. Quinnipiac managed three goals in a three minute stretch to end the third quarter leading 14-10.
In the fourth quarter, Walsh added her third goal of the game while Wesoky scored her first goal of the game, cutting Quinnipiac’s lead down to two. However, after four more goals from the Bobcats, Rider took its fourth loss in the last six games with a final score of 18-13. The Broncs travel back to Ben Cohen Field to host Mount St. Mary’s on April 10 at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
