Women's College Soccer
Rider University 5, New Jersey Inst. of Technology 2
LAWRENCEVILLE--Freshman Jennifer Meier (Sayville, N.Y./St. Anthony's) had two goals and an assist to lead the Rider University women's soccer team to its second win in a row and fourth victory in five games, defeating NJIT Tuesday afternoon.
Meier opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a 12 yard strike off passes from sophomores Kaitlin Wylie (Croydon, Pa./Pennsbury) and Claire Thompson (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) to put the Broncs ahead 1-0.
"Jen is a quality player," said head coach Drayson Hounsome. "We knew that coming into the season. "It was a matter of time for her to adjust to the college game and having the confidence to do the things that she can do naturally. It is exciting to know what she will bring to the program over the next four years."
"My mentality is to just keep working hard and let things happen," said Meier who has eight points (three goals, two assists) in her last four games. "The speed of the game is a lot quicker than high school and you have to be more of a physical player."
"Jenn did a great job of staying onside," Thompson said about the first goal of the game. "When I recognized the long ball was on, I sent it over the back line where she ran onto it and executed perfectly. She had a quality finish."
Rider led 1-0 at the half.
Meier took a through ball from fellow rookie Bridgette Bartkowski (Marlton/Cherokee) and scored from 16 yards to give Rider (4-2-2) a 2-0 lead 20 minutes into the second half. Bartkowski now has two assists for the season.
"We knew that NJIT was going to play a high back line," said Hounsome. "We are fortunate that we have some quality players that could finish off those opportunities. We broke their defense down and got some goals; it was an enjoyable game."
After the Highlanders cut the Bronc lead to 2-1 at 58:06, Thompson scored her first of the season just 32 seconds later, on a header off a Meier cross and Rider led 3-1. Meier now has three goals and three assists on the season.
"It was exciting for me to get my first goal of the season today," Thompson said. "I took a header off a great cross by Jenn Meier. She was patient with the ball before releasing it and placed it perfectly. She really made my job easy and all I had to do was come through the ball to finish it."
Senior Kimberly Reichel (Chester/West Morris-Mendham) sent sophomore Alexis Coughlin (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Baldwinsville) in on a breakaway with Coughlin notching her first goal of the season with just over 12 minutes left to put the Broncs ahead by three.
After NJIT scored at 86:33, sophomore Angela Lozupone (Rockville, Md./Good Counsel) picked up a loose ball and put it home for her first of the season with 63 seconds remaining.
Senior Alex Post (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks West) played 70 minutes, allowing one goal and making one save for her fourth win of the season. Sophomore Jenn Nichols (Stratham, N.H./Exeter) played the final 20 minutes, allowing one goal and also made one save.
Rider out-shot NJIT 26-8 including a 17-4 advantage in the second half. The Broncs held a 5-2 corner kick advantage.
Sadie Mele made seven saves for the Highlanders.
Rider and NJIT have now split two meetings. In the first meeting between the schools in women's soccer, the Highlanders defeated the Broncs 2-0 during the 2009 season in Newark, New Jersey.
"I think it's especially rewarding to be beating teams that we lost to last fall," said Thompson. "We know that we're a different team this year but actually seeing literal changes in results when we're matching up against the same teams that defeated us last year is huge. It's rewarding for returners to see that turnaround but also rewarding for freshmen who know they are making a difference in the program."
The Broncs last scored five goals on October 5, 2007 in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game against Saint Peter's in a 5-0 win.
After going 6-1 in Lawrenceville last season, Rider improves to 2-0-1 on the new campus turf field in 2010 and are now 8-1-1 in the last 10 games at home. "We like to think we can be good at home," Hounsome added. "Our first job was to win the game and we did that. Today was a chance to show that we have a lot of depth and it was good that we were able to use 21 of our players. Not only did they all play but they all also contributed well."
"Being at home is always more comfortable," Thompson said about the home turf advantage. "Though we don't expect to lose on the road, we are not faced with the unknown variables that come with traveling. Also, we feel we are protecting something here. It's a pride thing and we don't want to see anyone else succeed in front of our fans."
Rider travels to Worcester, Massachusetts to face Holy Cross in its final non-conference game on September 26. The Broncs return home to open Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play on October 1 against Niagara.
"We have units of players who share time on the field," Hounsome said. "We haven't started our strongest unit yet. Everyone has a role to play and knows that they will get an opportunity and the energy on the team is good. It is a really positive group of athletes and they are fun to watch."
"We have a deep bench and believe in each other," said Meier. "Our big thing is communication and rooting each other on. We are one big family. My goal is for us to keep working and for the team to keep playing hard."
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