Women's College Soccer

Rider University 3, Mount St. Mary's University 2

EMMITSBURG, MD— In the Sermon on the Mount, teachings admired by such moral thinkers as Tolstoy and Gandhi, a focal point that summarizes the teaching of the sermon is “be perfect, seek the path towards perfection.”

In Sunday's season opener at The Mount, a Rider Rookie was near perfect.

Freshman Kourtney Cunningham (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) scored two goals and junior Michelle Iacono (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun) had a goal and an assist to lead Rider to victory at Mount St. Mary's Sunday afternoon in the season opener.

“Kourtney was one of two or three real bright spots today,” said Rider head coach Drayson Hounsome.  “I think she played all 90 minutes. She was very good, a real handful for them.”

Cunningham scored 10 minutes into the game on an assist from Iacono to give the Broncs a 1-0 lead. Cunningham scored again with 15 minutes left in the game on an assist from freshman Sam Picinich (North Bellmore, NY/Mepham) to give Rider a 2-1 lead.

“Kourtney could have almost had a hat trick,” Hounsome said.

Cunningham led Whitehall High to the 2014 District XI AAA Championship with a district-high 41 goals and 19 assists.

Iacono, a First Team All-MAAC selection last year, scored to give Rider a 3-1 lead on an assist from sophomore Emily Schmitt (Bellmore, N.Y. /W.C. Mepham). “Michelle had a bit of an injury and played limited minutes but she looked dangerous,” Hounsome said.

Iacono now has eight goals and nine assists in her career.

The Mount (0-2) tied the score at 1-1 on a penalty kick halfway through the first half. “We gave away a penalty early,” Hounsome said.

MSM scored with just one second left in the game for the final score.

Rider (1-0) out-shot The Mount 22-12, including 11-9 in shots on goal.  “We were pretty poor today,” Hounsome said.  “We didn't look very good, not like defending champs.”

The defending MAAC Champions, Rider was playing without a handful of starters from last year due to injuries. “The players we had out there were able to get the win, which, at the end of the day, is the important thing,” Hounsome said.  “The ugliness was not a surprise today. They had about 30 players and we had 14, so it was a real challenge today, especially with the heat.”

Rider junior goalkeeper Bethany-May Howard (Glastonbury, England/Bridgwater College) made seven saves. “Beth was excellent,” Hounsome said.  “She made two really significant saves. She had a real big game and kept us in it.”

It marked the second year in a row and third time in the last four years that the Broncs won the season opener.

Mount St. Mary's lost its opener 7-0 at Lehigh Friday evening.

Rider travels to Fairleigh Dickinson for a 7pm game Thursday. The Broncs lost in overtime to FDU last season. “FDU won their conference regular season last year,” Hounsome said.  'We obviously have to play much better than we did today.”

Better, on the path toward perfection.

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