Women's College Soccer
Rider University 1, Sacred Heart University 0
LAWRENCEVILLE—This one was for Mom.
Freshman Claire Thompson (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) scored her first collegiate goal to give Rider a victory over Sacred Heart Friday afternoon. “My Mom had surgery today, and I scored it for her,” an emotional Thompson said after the game. “When I scored I thought it would be really cool that my Dad was watching the live stats and would be able to tell her that I scored.”
The victory was Rider's second in a row. The last time Rider won consecutive games was during the 2006 season. “We're pretty happy about that,” head coach Drayson Hounsome said. “We had a tough game today, but we managed to find a way to win.”
2006 was also the last time Thompson was healthy, before suffering a major knee injury prior to her junior year of high school and then injuring the other knee last September.
“Claire came back from a pair of ACL (knee) injuries over the last two years and is a driven, committed athlete,” Hounsome said. “She has super drive and is super motivated. She has huge potential.”
Thompson took a long pass from freshman Meghan Mohr (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem) and chipped in a high, arching shot from 20 yards out over on-coming Pioneer goalie Meghan Reichelt in the 27th minute of the game for the only score of the contest.
"It was pretty much a perfect ball from Meghan,” Thompson said. “She's a really strong player and she lobbed a perfect one over the back line. They tried to pull an offside trap and I recognized that. I was on, snuck right by, the goalie was pretty far out and I just lifted it over her head.”
“We knew their keeper was going to play high off her line and, off balance, Clair managed to re-direct the ball from almost 25 yards out,” Hounsome remembered. “Not an easy finish at all. So you have to give her credit for turning that ball into a goal.”
Rider (2-2) out-shot SHU (1-2) 10-7. Freshman Alexis Coughlin (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Baldwinsville) came in off the bench and had five of Rider's shots, including three of Rider's six shots on goal. “Alexis, I thought, probably had her best game so far for us,” Hounsome said.
Rider had six corner kicks to Sacred Heart's four. “Sacred Heart puts a lot of pressure on you, so it is tough to really put passes together.”
Rider junior Alex Post (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks West) made two saves for the shutout, the second in a row for the Broncs. “It was a grinding, defensive effort today,” Hounsome said. “The back four and the goalkeeper got two shutouts in a row,” Hounsome said, “so there were a lot of good performances.”
Reichelt made five saves for the Pioneers.
Rider and Sacred Heart tied 0-0 in their only other meeting, in 2003.
Rider travels across the state to play Monmouth Sunday, Rider's fifth game in ten days. “I think that might be more of a possession type of game, which I think suits our style a bit better,” Hounsome said.
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