Rider shutout in final away match 3-0

By Joshua Yuhas

Rider women’s soccer went on the road for the final time of the regular season with a 3-0 loss    on Oct. 25 against the red-hot Siena Saints, who provided a tough challenge, carrying a two-game winning streak into the night.

Fatigue takes the reins

Head Coach Drayson Hounsome knew before the Oct. 25 contest at Siena that the Broncs were going to face some challenges that night.

“With a large number of injuries, we were unable to recreate the game situations in practice. So, the first half, in some ways, was practicing it for the first time,” Hounsome said.

Despite these adversities, the Broncs charged early, with shots from both sophomore forward Tess Ferrie and junior forward Ava Ferrie. 

Freshman goalie Ashley Moore expressed the mindset she had to stay composed against the Saints in the first half.

 “The team knew that we needed to limit the amount of opportunities Siena had, so we focused on staying organized and communicating,” Moore said.

Tess Ferrie took the first shot in the second minute with Ava Ferrie taking the second just a minute later.

Another chance opened for sophomore forward Valgerður Sigurjónsdóttir in the 10th minute, but to no avail.

“The team stuck to the game plan well in the first half and created several attacking chances that, unfortunately, we shot wide of the goal,” Hounsome said.

Missed chances and practice time for the squad came back to bite the Broncs by the 17th minute when the Saints worked a chance into the box, finding the back of the net for their first score.

Off the return of play, the Broncs charged with a pair of shots, once again from the Ferrie sisters, each ending the night tied with a team-high two shots.

Moore settled in with two of her three saves of the night coming in the remaining time of the half.

Down 1-0 at halftime, the Broncs trailed Siena by two shots, but according to Hounsome, the injuries’ impact on practice time played a part in the conceded goal.

“Siena had very few chances, but due to our limited time playing the system, all it took was one positional error defensively for them to take advantage of and score the opening goal,” Hounsome said.

The Broncs limited Siena to just one corner kick chance in the opening half and survived the three shots on goal from the Saints.

While the hold in the latter part of the opening half was encouraging, the injury issue resurfaced in the form of fatigue for the second half, restricting Hounsome’s options to play with.

“We had to make changes at halftime, but with our injury problem, we don’t have that many options to change the narrative,” Hounsome said, “As players got more fatigued, we were unable to make the changes we needed to make in the second half.” 

Siena flipped the script from the first half, working their own offensive challenge after an unsuccessful Rider corner kick in the early minutes of the half.

A 48th minute goal scored by a Saints attacker marked the second score of the match, with the pressure continuing for two more shots in the next 10 minutes of action.

In the 62nd minute, Siena worked a cross into the box, finding the head of another Saints attacker for the final goal of the evening.

The Broncs’ one chance in the second half came on a 74th minute attempt from Sigurjónsdóttir, tying the Ferrie sisters at two shots.

The Saints launched two more shots in the final minutes of the match to close the night with 15 shots, six on goal, to Rider’s six, one on goal.

Rider posted just one shot in the second half as the fatigue was too much to overcome, but effort across 

the team is what Moore saw from the net.

“I think we’ve shown a lot of resilience. So many players have stepped up and really come through for the team,” Moore said.

Looking ahead to the final match of the season, Hounsome has just one simple ask for his team in their next matchup. 

“Just give maximal effort for 90 minutes and respond with positive actions to whatever happens in the game,” Hounsome said.

Rider returns home to Ben Cohen Field on Oct. 29 for their final matchup of the regular season against Marist University.