College Field Hockey
Rider University 4, Sacred Heart University 0
Northeast Conference Game
LAWRENCEVILLE--Freshman Eefje Kok (Berkel Enschot, Netherlands) had two goals and senior Virginia Egusquiza (Getxo, Spain) added a goal and an assist to lead the Rider University field hockey team to its eighth win in a row, defeating the Pioneers of Sacred Heart University Friday night in a Northeast Conference game.
"Anytime we play a conference game and especially against Sacred Heart, it is always a battle," said head coach Lori Hussong. "We didn't play our best tonight but we got the win and that's what we are happy about."
Egusquiza got the Broncs on the board with her 13th goal of the season on a penalty stroke just 3:56 into the contest.
"It was important that we scored early," said Egusquiza who is the second leading scorer in Rider history. "It was a good beginning."
"When you score in the first five minutes of a game, it gives the defense a chance to relax a little bit and allows them to just play and that's what Virginia's early goal did for us tonight," said Hussong. To Sacred Heart's credit, they never stopped putting on the pressure and they battled us all over the field."
Kok tipped in a cross from sophomore Sandra Penas (Barcelona, Spain) at 10:45 to give Rider (12-1, 3-0 NEC) a 2-0 lead and the Broncs led by two at intermission.
Penas tipped in a cross from Egusquiza, notching her team-leading 14th goal of the season with just over 12 minutes left in regulation and Kok hit the back of the cage for her second of the night and fifth of the season with 14 seconds left for the final score. Freshman Dezarae Fillmyer (Roebling/Florence) fed Kok the crossing pass for her second assist of the season.
"Winning 4-0 in field hockey is pretty good," Hussong said. "But what we are emphasizing is putting forth our best effort and playing to the best of our abilities and we didn't do that for a full 70 minutes. It is a work in progress and we are working to improve on Sunday."
"We weren't hustling as much as we usually do in the first half," Egusquiza said. "We played fine but we needed to pick up the intensity and we did that in the second half."
Senior goalie Rebecca Lotito (Oceanport/Shore Regional) made one save as Rider out-shot Sacred Heart (4-10, 1-2 NEC) 37-3 and the Broncs held a 15-5 penalty corner advantage.
This was Rider's third shutout in a row and fourth in five games. The Broncs have eighth shutouts for the season.
"All season, our defense has improved," Hussong said. "We aren't allowing a lot of shots but 'Tito' and the rest of the defense have stepped it up when we needed them to. Sacred Heart had a few dangerous chances that we blocked before they could shoot it."
Kim Stow made 22 saves for the Pioneers, several at point blank range.
Rider and Sacred Heart have met 23 times with the Broncs winning 17. Rider defeated Sacred Heart 2-0 in Connecticut in 2010 and 3-0 on the road in 2009. In 2008, Rider defeated the Pioneers 3-1 in Lawrenceville and 2-0 in the NEC semifinals at Lock Haven.
The game was Alumni Night and over 50 of alums of the field hockey program were among the 200 in attendance as Rider honored the 2000 NEC championship team, the first under head coach Lori Hussong to win a title and advance to the NCAA Play-In game.
"It feels good to win on our field," Hussong said. "It is a great home atmosphere and a lot of alumni came back to support us. It was a special night. The 2000 team was the foundation that we have built a lot of success on. I use them as the example for our current teams to look to for inspiration to be successful."
In 2000, the Broncs went 5-5 in NEC play and upset top seed and conference regular season champion Monmouth 1-0 in the semifinals and defeated Quinnipiac 1-0 in the title game to advance to the NCAA Play-In at Boston University.
"It feels great to be home," Egusquiza said about playing in Lawrenceville for the first time since September 17 (six games). "It was a great crowd, we had great support and we like playing on our home turf, especially for a night game."
Undefeated all-time (12-0) on the newly named Ben Cohen Field, Rider hosts Quinnipiac on Sunday at noon. In a battle of undefeated NEC teams, Monmouth (3-0 NEC) defeated the Bobcats (2-1 NEC) 3-2 on Friday afternoon in West Long Branch.
During the game against Quinnipiac on Sunday, Rider will wear pink shoe laces in support of Play 4 The Cure to raise donations and awareness in the battle against breast cancer.
"Quinnipiac is one of the best teams in the conference and we need to play better than we did tonight," Egusquiza added. "We need to play a little more as a team; we did well and hustled but we can do better."
"I expect a great game," Hussong said about Sunday. "It is always intense. The team that wants it the most will win the game. It will also be an important game as we raise donations in the fight against breast cancer. It is an important cause for our team and the Rider community to be involved in."
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