Women's College Soccer
Rider University 1, Binghamton University 1 (2 o.t.)
BINGHAMTON, NY?The Broncs tied Binghamton Wednesday night. “There are good ties and there are bad ties and this was a good tie,” said Rider head coach Drayson Hounsome. “It is still a bit disappointing because we were winning the game, and the way we played in overtime we felt we deserved to win this game, but a tie on the road, especially at Binghamton, is a good result. This was possibly our best performance of the season.”
Rider junior Natalie Sica (Marlton, N.J./Holy Cross) scored ten minutes into the second half to break the scoreless tie. The goal, off a steal just inside the box from 18 yards out, was Sica's first at Rider.
“It was exciting to finally get my first goal,” said Sica, who scored a lot in her stellar high school career at Holy Cross, where she was a four-time team MVP, leading her team to the Parochial Tournament. “I've been waiting a few years to get one. I'm playing more than I did the last two years.”
“We attacked down the side, the ball kind of came across to Nat about 20 yards out and she struck it, a great shot in the top right hand corner of the goal,” Hounsome said.
“It was kind of a miscommunication between their defenders,” Sica said, “and the ball came out to me just outside the box and I just shot it into the right upper corner.”
Binghamton (4-1-1) tied the score at 1-1 with 18 minutes remaining. “It is still a bit disappointing to not get the win,” Hounsome said, “but Binghamton is good, they were on a streak and they've got some very dangerous players.”
The Bearcats shut out their last three opponents and had out-scored opponents 9-2 this year coming into the Rider game. “I thought we played really well, probably one of the best games we've played this year so far,” Sica said. “We dominated most of the game.”
Rider (1-5-2) out-shot Binghamton 10-9. Both teams had nine shots during regulation. Nine of Rider's 10 shots were on goal, while only four of Binghamton's were on goal. Rider has been out-shot this year 154-63 before out-shooting Binghamton. “We worked on our defense and made some personnel changes around the field,” Hounsome said. “We were able to keep the ball more and put more passes together, which resulted in more shots.”
Rider did not make a sub the entire game, going with the starting 11 all 110 minutes. “The 11 that we played were doing the job we needed them to do, so there was no reason to sub,” Hounsome said. “These players, their fitness is so good, they don't need a rest.”
“Sometimes playing the entire game, and then overtime, is tough, but today it wasn't too bad,” Sica said. “Our fitness is a lot better this year.”
“We only used 11 players but all 11 performed really well,” Hounsome said. “Their fitness showed because they held up in the last 20 minutes. We actually had more of the play in the overtime than they did.”
It was Rider's third overtime game of the season, tying Lafayette in the opener and losing at Towson.
Rider sophomore goalkeeper Alex Post (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks West) made four saves. Post has made 62 saves this season, 11th most in the nation.
Rider is now off until September 27 when the Broncs host Vermont. “It was a very good team performance throughout,” Hounsome said. “If we play like that we'll compete with anybody in our conference.”
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