College Field Hockey
Rider University 7, University of Pennsylvania 1
LAWRENCEVILLE—Before almost 500 fans in a sea of cranberry, the Rider University field hockey team won its 12th straight game, scoring wave after wave of goals in a 7-1 win over the University of Pennsylvania Wednesday night at Ben Cohen Field.
Sophomore Sandra Penas (Barcelona, Spain) scored three times and added an assist with junior Marlaine Schneider (Feasterville, Pa./Neshaminy) recording two goals and two assists in the win as the Broncs celebrated Code Cranberry and remained undefeated for the second straight season on the lighted campus turf field.
“Marlaine was a workhorse out there tonight,” said head coach Lori Hussong, in her 12th season at Rider. “She was the catalyst. Not only is she scoring, she is creating opportunities. She is one of our 'go to' players and she is really having a strong season.”
Penn (3-12) scored just 2:25 into the game before Schneider recorded an unassisted goal at the 8:12 mark to tie the game at one.
“I knew I had to step up when we got down by a goal early,” said Schneider who moved into 13th place on the Rider all-time scoring list with 81 points (26g, 29a). “My role changed a little this year and I've just tried to be in the right place at the right time. I don't mind being 'under the radar' of my teammates because they are awesome players.”
“We got off to a slow start,” said Hussong. “Penn is a very good team, their sticks skills and passing is a lot better than a lot of teams we've seen this season and to their credit, they took it to us. We bounced back and responded in the right way and that was good to see.”
Penas recorded her first goal of the evening on a penalty corner from Schneider and senior Virginia Egusquiza (Getxo, Spain) to put the Broncs ahead 2-1 at the 13:34 mark. Already the Rider record holder in assists, Egusquiza has 15 assists this season and 59 in her Bronc career.
“We had a slow start,” Penas remembered. “We didn't seem to be ready at the beginning but once we scored, we started working together better. It maybe wasn't our best game but we came out with the win.”
Less than three minutes later, Penas blasted a shot from 10 yards out for an unassisted tally to put Rider ahead 3-1.
Penas fed a pass to freshman Eefje Kok (Berkel Enschot, Netherlands) who scored her eighth of the season at 23:48 and Rider led 4-1 at the half.
Sophomore Alicia Govannicci (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) crossed a pass to Penas who recorded the three goal hat trick at the 47:20 mark. Penas leads the Broncs with 20 goals on the season and is one goal shy of tying the individual Rider record for goals in a season, held by three players. This is the second career hat trick for Penas, both coming against Penn.
“I was happy for Sandra,” Hussong said. “She hasn't had a multiple goal game in a while (since October 9 at Bryant) and it was good to get her on track.”
This is the eighth game in a row that Penas has scored a goal and she is now tied for 10th all-time on Rider's scoring list with 83 points (34g, 15a).
Schneider scored her second of the night and 15th of the season on a rebound at 50:59 with senior Megan Pisani (Plainsboro/West Windsor-Plainsboro North) receiving a Schneider pass for her 12th of the season at 54:23 for the final score.
Rider (16-1) out-shot the Quakers 31-7 and the Broncs held a 12-7 penalty corner advantage. Rider entered the week first in the nation in penalty corners.
Senior goalie Rebecca Lotito (Oceanport/Shore Regional) made three saves, picking up her 16th win of the season and 29th of her Rider career.
Rider defeated Penn 8-3 in Philadelphia in 2010, the first meeting between the two teams in field hockey.
Code Cranberry is an initiative by the department of athletics where members of the other varsity teams at Rider come out and support each other at designated home games throughout the year.
“The crowd was great,” said Hussong. The players love playing in front of their friends and family and classmates. We try to give them a good show each time out.”
“I love playing when the whole campus is supporting us,” Schneider said. “The crowd gave us a lot of energy and we knew we couldn't have 'Code Cranberry' and lose.”
Undefeated in Northeast Conference play (6-0), Rider travels to Loretto, Pa. to face Saint Francis on Sunday in the final NEC regular season game of the season.
“Tonight was a good test heading into the last conference game of the regular season,” Hussong said. “Sunday is going to be tough because Saint Francis is fighting for their playoff lives, it is their senior day and they are going to come after us.”
“We want to get everything working since Sunday's game is the last one before the playoffs,” Penas added. “We want to be undefeated again in conference play and we are going to work hard to make that happen.”
Rider has won 22 straight conference games dating to the 2008 season.
As the 2011 NEC regular season champion, Rider is the top seed in the four-team NEC playoffs and will host the tournament November 4-5. Rider will play in the second semifinal at 1:30pm against the fourth seed.
Monmouth, the number two seed will face the third seed at 11am in the first semifinal. The championship game is set for noon on November 5.
The official tournament pairings will be announced by the NEC on Monday afternoon.
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