Box Score Women's College Soccer-MAAC Playoffs
#4 Rider University 2, #5 Siena College 1
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ— You often hear athletes state a technical impossibility, that they give 110 percent. On Saturday night, 70 percent was good enough for the Rider women's soccer team.
The Broncs were missing their top two scorers and a starting defender due to injuries, while the captain of their defense was playing at less than 100 percent with a knee injury.
Despite playing at what Coach Drayson Hounsome estimated at 70 percent, the Broncs defeated Siena in the first round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship Tournament, held at Rider's Ben Cohen Field.
“We have a really good squad and the freshmen have really stepped up,” Hounsome said.
Freshman Ellie Smith (Norwich, England/Norwich City) scored two goals to lead Rider to victory. “Smithy is a great player,” Hounsome said. “She is really coming along the last three or four weeks of the season. You don't see many players do some of the things that she does. She has tremendous balance. She is just a very talented player and a tough player to play against.”
Rider will now advance to the MAAC semifinals for the sixth time in the 18-year history of the program, taking on the top seed and host, Monmouth, on Friday at 7pm.
“That is where our season ended last year, in the semifinals against Monmouth,” Hounsome said. “This gives us a chance to make amends and get the win we did not get 12 months ago.”
Rider (11-5-2, 5-3-2 MAAC) took a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute of play when Smith took a crossing pass from freshman Alanna McDougall (Valley Stream, N.Y. /Valley Stream North) and headed the ball into the net.
“I played the ball free to Alanna on the right wing, she crossed it in and I hit it with my head into the top left corner,” Smith said.
Siena (7-7-6, 4-2-4 MAAC) tied the score with just 3:49 left to play on a scramble in front of the net after a direct kick. “You kind of felt it was coming,” Hounsome said of the Saints' goal. “They were getting free kicks so I felt it was just a matter of time. I didn't know we would respond three minutes later.”
“That was heart-breaking,” Smith remembers feeling. “We all felt we were going to go into overtime.”
The old soccer term, 'goals follow goals' came through again.
Two minutes later Smith took a pass from sophomore Victoria Maley (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and scored her fifth goal of the season for the game winner. “I missed a goal earlier so I had to get that one,” Smith said.
Siena out-shot Rider 9-8, including 8-6 in the second half.
One of Rider's injured players, Academic All-American candidate Tara Ballay (Delran, NJ/Delran), played 28 minutes Saturday, her first action after missing five games with a broken leg. “That was important to get her back on the field,” Hounsome said, “to see how she felt. We'll see how she is next week.”
Ballay is the leading scorer in the MAAC (11 goals, 24 points) despite playing five fewer games,
Rider sophomore goalkeeper Bethany-May Howard (Glastonbury, England/Bridgwater College) made four saves.
The 11 Bronc wins is the most since Rider won a program-record 12 games in 2004.
Rider and Siena played to a 0-0 tie on October 25 in Loudonville, NY. The Broncs defeated Siena 1-0 at Rider last year. The all-time series is now tied at 8-8-4.
The Broncs now take on the top seed, who they lost to 1-0 earlier this week. “We look forward to it,” Hounsome said. “If we play like we played tonight we can beat Monmouth,” Smith said.
Bronc fans hope Rider will be closer to 100 percent next week.
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