Women's College Soccer
University of Pennsylvania 3, Rider University 0
PHILADELPHIA, PA?The Broncs lost to Penn at Rhodes Field Wednesday evening in the final non-conference game of the season. “Penn is by far the best team we've played this year,” said Rider head coach Drayson Hounsome. “They are very, very good.”
Penn (8-4-2) scored 4:34 into the second half when Natalie Capuano took a pass from Sarah Friedman, and came back and scored again two minutes later when Kaitlin Campbell took a corner kick from Friedman and scored on a header.
Friedman leads Penn with 14 assists and 22 points.
“We followed our game plan, denying space, but after the scoreless first half they figured out how to break us down and got those two goals early in the second half,” Hounsome said. “Once they scored twice we had to come out and play at them to try to score and that made us vulnerable.”
The Quakers made it 3-0 with 7:15 remaining
Penn out-shot Rider (2-10-3) 20-2, including 11-0 in the first half.
Rider sophomore goalkeeper Alex Post (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks West) made eight saves. Post currently ranks eighth in the nation with 7.64 saves per game.
Junior Natalie Sica (Marlton, N.J./Holy Cross) and freshman Samantha Andrea (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) had shots for Rider. Sica had Rider's lone shot on goal.
Penn defeated Rider 2-0 last season in Lawrenceville. Rider and Penn have now met four times with Penn holding a 4-0 advantage in the series that began in 2004.
“What we can learn from this game is how teams break us down,” Hounsome said.
Rider hosts Canisius Friday and Niagara Sunday in the final two home games of the season. Rider's graduating seniors will be honored prior to Sunday's 12 noon game.
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