College Field Hockey
Rider Picked to Win MAAC Championship
Rider's Penas MAAC Preseason Player of the Year
Govannicci Preseason All-MAAC
EDISON—In voting by the league coaches, the Rider University field hockey team was picked to win the inaugural Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship, it was announced Tuesday afternoon with senior Sandra Penas named the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year and senior Alicia Govannicci joining Penas as a Preseason All-MAAC selection.
“We are honored that the coaches have picked our team to win the MAAC this year,” said head coach Lori Hussong, in her 14th season at Rider. “Anyone familiar with the conference teams knows that anyone has a chance to win the regular season as the level of play is getting better and better each season.”
Rider is coming off a 15-6 season in 2012 with the Broncs winning the Northeast Conference Title for the third season in a row.
With the NEC disbanding sponsorship of the sport, the Rider field hockey team joined 18 of its other sports under the MAAC umbrella when the MAAC Field Hockey Conference was formed.
Finishing behind Rider (44 points) in the Preseason poll was Quinnipiac (43), Monmouth (37), Robert Morris (25), Sacred Heart (20), Bryant (18) and Siena (9).
The top four teams in the final regular season standings will compete at Rider's Ben Cohen Field on November 8-9 for a berth in an NCAA Play-In game.
Rider has been the NEC representative in the last three NCAA Play-In games, losing at the University of Massachusetts 2-1 in overtime in 2012, 1-0 in double overtime at Princeton in 2011 and 2-1 at the University at Albany in 2010.
The 2013 Broncs are led by Penas (Barcelona, Spain) who was the 2012 NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player.
The 2012-13 Rider Female Athlete of the Year after earning Third Team NFHCA All-America and First Team All-Region honors, Penas is a 60-game veteran and enters her final season third on Rider's all-time scoring list with 133 points (54g, 25a).
A 62-game veteran with 12 goals and 12 assists in her Rider career, Govannicci (Springfield, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) was named Second Team All-NEC as a junior and in May 2013, was selected to participate with the Pennsylvania High Performance Training Squad, through USA Field Hockey, the first Rider player ever selected for the trials.
“We are happy that Sandra and Alicia were voted to the Preseason All-MAAC team,” Hussong added. “We are looking forward to watching them have continued success in their senior year.”
Hussong, who has led her team to six conference championship titles, has compiled a 184-77 record, seventh nationally among active Division I coaches with a .705 winning percentage.
Rider opens the 2013 season at Colgate on August 30 and the home opener is September 20 against Towson at 7pm. The MAAC opener is October 13 against Robert Morris at noon.
Weather permitting, all five home field hockey games will be streamed on BroncVision, the pay per view video stream of Rider Athletics and part of the MAAC.TV network.
GameWatcher (LiveStats) will also be available for free on the website for all home games and most away contests.
-RU-
Preseason Coaches' Poll
|
1.
|
Rider
|
44
|
|
2.
|
Quinnipiac
|
43
|
|
3.
|
Monmouth
|
37
|
|
4.
|
Robert Morris
|
25
|
|
5.
|
Sacred Heart
|
20
|
|
6.
|
Bryant
|
18
|
|
7.
|
Siena
|
9
|
Preseason All-MAAC Team
|
Rosie Bird
|
Forward
|
Bryant
|
|
Jess Rusin
|
Forward
|
Quinnipiac
|
|
Sandra Penas
|
Forward
|
Rider
|
|
Trish O'Dwyer
|
Midfield
|
Monmouth
|
|
Jennalise Taylor
|
Midfield
|
Quinnipiac
|
|
Alicia Govannicci
|
Midfield
|
Rider
|
|
Jamie Hartley
|
Midfield
|
Robert Morris
|
|
Kelsey Hiltebeitel
|
Defense
|
Bryant
|
|
Alex Carroll
|
Defense
|
Monmouth
|
|
Amanda Danziger
|
Defense
|
Quinnipiac
|
|
Mary Altepeter
|
Goalie
|
Sacred Heart
|
|
Beth Meyers
|
Goalie
|
Siena
|
Preseason Player of the Year
