Women's College Soccer
Rider University 4, Manhattan College 1
LAWRENCEVILLE—Better late than never. After missing the first 11 games of the season with a broken face, freshman Abi Cottam (Leominster, England/Ludlow) compiled three assists to lead Rider to a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Manhattan Friday.
“I often think about what if we could have had her all year,” Hounsome said of his prize recruit. “If we had her from the start I'm sure we would have a few more W's. In the preseason she was looking so good and then we had the big break without her.”
Big break. No pun intended. “I had three fractures,” Cottam said. “I had one in my orbit (eye), one in my nose and one in the inside of the orbit. We were playing an exhibition game and I went up to head the ball and a girl came in from the right side and her head hit into my eye.”
Welcome to the United States. “Two weeks in this country and I get my face broken,” Cottam said with her British accent. “It was very tough to sit and watch and then try to come back in after so long. The team had jelled together without me. It is just a shame that it is so near the end of the season when I managed to get back.”
Rider (6-10-1, 2-6 MAAC) took a 1-0 lead just 4:04 into the game when Cottam fed freshman Demi Mello (Mattituck, N.Y./Mattituck), who scored her first collegiate goal on a 23-yard strike. “It was an amazing goal,” Cottam said. “I just laid the ball off to her and it was a great goal by her.”
Cottam sent a crossing pass into the box where junior Lauren Musumeci (Annandale, N.J./North Hunterdon) headed it in for a 2-0 lead just 9:24 into the game. “We did a lot of that in practice,” Cottam said. “I crossed it in and Moose headed it in nicely.”
The goal was the seventh of the season for Musumeci, the most in a season for a Bronc since 2004 when Tami Coyle scored 14. Musumeci now has 13 career goals, fourth most ever at Rider and 34 career points, also fourth most at Rider.
Cottam found senior Natalie Sica (Marlton, N.J./Holy Cross) in front for a four-yard finish to give Rider a 3-0 lead. The goal was Sica's first of the year.
“Abi plays a different style,” Hounsome said. “She's only six games into her season, just a quarter of the season. It is tough for teams to deal with her and that showed today. She had a piece of three of the goals and I think she could have scored but passed to someone else that set up the fourth goal. That is the kind of player she is, very unselfish, very skillful and creative.”
Senior Alison Brody (Alexandria, Va./West Potomac) picked up a loose ball in front and scored her eighth career goal, giving Rider a 4-0 lead at the half.
Manhattan (7-8-2, 2-4-2 MAAC) scored on a penalty kick 5:36 into the second half to break the shutout.
Manhattan out-shot Rider 9-6. “In other games we've had shots and didn't score,” Hounsome said. “Today we did score so it was nice for it to come all together.”
Rider freshman goalkeeper Jenn Nichols (Stratham, N.H./Exeter) made five saves and is now 3-2-1 in the Bronc nets.
Rider lost 4-0 at Manhattan last year. “What they did to us last year, to come back 12 months later and turn it around on them, is real pleasing,” Hounsome said.
The Broncs and Jaspers have now met 14 times since the series began in 1997 with Rider winning four and there have been three ties. The last time Rider defeated Manhattan was in 2005.
The Broncs play the final game of the regular season at home Sunday at 1pm against Saint Peter's. “It will be great to honor the seniors on Sunday,” Hounsome said. “Hopefully we can get a win for them on their last home game. If we can get a good result on Sunday we'll be going to the tournament confidently knowing we can get a couple of good results down there.”
Rider is now 5-1 at home. “We've been playing well,” Hounsome said. “We're 5-1 at home on grass. We're a good grass team and we're playing on grass in Florida.”
The 10-team MAAC Championship tournament, held at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Florida begins October 29. “This is a big win for us,” Cottam said. “This makes us look a lot more dangerous going down to Florida to play on grass.”
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