College Field Hockey
Rider University 2, Saint Francis (Pa.) 0
Northeast Conference Game
LORETTO, Pa.--The Rider University field hockey team clinched the 2011 Northeast Conference championship out-right, its third in a row, with a 2-0 win at Saint Francis (Pa.) Sunday afternoon.
For the Broncs, it was their 13th win in a row, tying the Rider record from the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
"It was a really tough game," said head coach Lori Hussong. "They (Saint Francis) probably played their best game of the season against us. Their defense was excellent and their goalie played really well."
Senior Megan Pisani (Plainsboro/West Windsor Plainsboro-North) broke a scoreless tie 24 minutes into the game with her 13th goal of the season, tipping in a pass from senior Virginia Egusquiza (Getxo, Spain) to put Rider (17-1, 7-0 NEC) ahead 1-0. This was Pisani's 50th career goal and 110th point in her Bronc career.
"Megan played tough today," Hussong said. "She created a couple of opportunities for us that we didn't finish. The first goal was huge. The longer Saint Francis stayed in the game with us, the more confidence and momentum they seemed to gain."
"Saint Francis has really good players and we struggled at the beginning of the game," Egusquiza, the 2009 and 2010 NEC Player of the Year said. "We weren't playing how we wanted to and when we got the first goal, that really picked us up. It was a really tough game."
It would remain a one-goal game until freshman Stacey Dileo (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Warde) took another Egusquiza pass and scored her fifth goal of the season with 5:30 left in the game for the final score. Egusquiza is tied for the team lead with 17 assists and is the Rider record holder with 61 assists and 149 points.
"We stuck with it today and did the best job we could and we got it done," Hussong said. "Virginia did a good job getting to any loose ball that she could. She made some big plays for us."
Senior goalie Rebecca Lotito (Oceanport/Shore Regional) recorded her 30th career win and 17th of the season, making two saves as Rider out-shot the Red Flash 17-4.
"Jackie Adams (junior, Medford Lakes/Shawnee) played a strong game and Katie Fanning (freshman, Bridgewater/Bridgewater/Raritan) and Natasha Tukeva (senior, Easton, Pa./Freedom) came up big at the end," Hussong said about the defense. And Tito (goalie Rebecca Lotito), her presence on the field is the reason why the defense has been doing so well. Saint Francis was dangerous, every time they touched the ball, they had a few players who could really move the ball down the field. The defense had their hands full."
Lotito now has eight shutouts in 2011 and 15 in her Rider career.
"The defense did a wonderful job today," Lotito said. "We were a little out of sync today and we were able to fight through it and produce a shutout. The corner defense was especially tough."
"The defense did a nice job today," Egusquiza said. "We only gave up a few corners."
The Broncs held a 13-3 penalty corner advantage, 10-2 in the second half.
"We always prepare like it is going to be a tight game," Lotito added. "You have to be mentally ready for all 70 minutes, no matter what the score is and today we really stayed in the game and stayed focused."
Rider defeated the Red Flash 5-1 last season in Lawrenceville. The Broncs defeated the Red Flash 1-0 in overtime in Loretto, Pennsylvania in 2009 and Rider is now 13-0 all-time against Saint Francis.
This is Rider's 23rd regular season NEC win in a row, dating back to the 2008 season and it's the third season in a row that the Broncs have gone undefeated in conference play.
"We are extremely proud of this year's team," said Hussong. "They have overcome a lot with injuries and have really come together as a team. We mixed in a lot of younger players early on and it took a little to mesh all of that together and our chemistry is pretty good right now. They have worked hard to achieve this level of success."
This is the third season in a row that Rider has had a 13-game winning streak. In 2009, the Broncs started the season 13-0 and in 2010, Rider started the season 3-3 before winning 13 straight heading into the NCAA Play-In at Albany.
Rider has won the 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010 and now the 2011 NEC regular season titles with the Broncs winning the NEC Championship in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2010. The Broncs have reached the NEC Title Game in nine of the last 11 seasons and this is the 12th season in a row that Rider has qualified for the NEC playoffs.
Rider hosts the four-team NEC tournament November 4-5 at Ben Cohen Field on the Lawrencevile campus. The first semifinal will be at 11am with #3 Quinnipiac (5-2 NEC) playing #2 Monmouth (6-1 NEC). Rider plays at 1:30pm in the second semifinal and will face #4 Saint Francis (Pa.). The Red Flash (3-4 NEC) qualified by virtue of defeating
Sacred Heart (3-4 NEC) head-to-head during the season. The championship game will be Saturday at noon.
"Having a tough game right before the playoffs I think is a good thing," said Hussong. "We can't expect to show up at the field and assume we are going to walk away with a win. We've experienced the good parts and the bad parts of the playoffs and we have to go into the game focused and ready and I think we will be."
"This is highly valuable what we experienced today," said Lotito. "Once in a while, it is good to experience a little adversity and maybe struggle a little bit because it keeps us working hard to battle through any adversity that we could face. I think today made us more ready for the pressure that the playoffs bring."
"I'm glad we are home for the playoffs," said Egusquiza. "We are comfortable playing on our turf. We do need to come out with more concentration and have a better start to the game Friday than we did today. We need to play better to get the win in the playoffs."
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