College Field Hockey
Rider University 3, La Salle University 2

LAWRENCEVILLE—The Rider University field hockey team jumped out to a three-goal lead and held on to defeat La Salle University 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at Ben Cohen Field.

“It was a game of two different halves,” said head coach Lori Hussong.  “The first half, we played really, really well and the second half not so well.  La Salle is a tough team to play against, they never ever quit.”

Junior Kalyn O'Brien (Southampton/Seneca) scored on a rebound 11:27 into the game, her first goal of the season to give Rider (5-1) a 1-0 lead.

Just under seven minutes later, after a La Salle corner play was broken up, junior Carlie Spaeder (Newtown Square, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) took a long pass from sophomore Allison Baligian (Flemington/Hunterdon Central) and after running almost half the field, notched her third goal of the season to give the Broncs a two-goal margin.

“The offense was lively in the opening half and we had some beautiful runs down the field,” Hussong said.  “Carlie was the catalyst for that.  She used her speed to her advantage and is confident in her stick skills.  She is creating a lot of scoring opportunities for us.”

“Allison gave me a good ball up the field,” Spaeder said about her goal.  “It was really just a team effort that created the opportunity.”

Playing 69 of 70 minutes, Spaeder had a team-high six shots for Rider.

“We played well in the opening half but didn't play to our potential in the second half,” Spaeder added.  “We are looking to work on playing our very best.  La Salle is a really good team and put forth a lot of effort.  We just worked together and got the win.”

Eight minutes into the second half, Baligian scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season off a scramble in front of the La Salle goal with Explorer goalie Rachel Hartman making the first save and La Salle's Megan Kida credited with a defensive save on the second shot before the Broncs put the third shot home.

With 18:40 left in the game, La Salle converted on a penalty corner and the Explorers scored again off a penalty corner with 49 seconds remaining for the final score.

Rider out-shot La Salle (2-3) 23-7 but only 8-4 in the final 35 minutes of play.

Rider held a 9-8 penalty corner advantage with the Explorers holding a 5-4 advantage in the second half.

Rider senior goalie Joelle Prettyman (Newark, Del./St. Mark's) made five saves with Hartman credited with 11 saves for La Salle.

Rider and La Salle last met during the 2014 season when the Explorers scored a 3-2 double overtime victory after coming back from a two-goal deficit.  In 2012 the Broncs prevailed 3-2 in overtime, also in Philadelphia.  The Broncs defeated La Salle 2-0 in Lawrenceville in 2011.  Rider defeated La Salle 4-1 to open the 2010 season in Philadelphia.  Rider has won 24 of the 33 games (one tie) in the series against the Explorers including a 2-1 overtime win in Lawrenceville in 2009 and a 2-1 overtime win in 2008 that went to penalty strokes.  The Explorers defeated the Broncs 2-1 in double overtime in 2007 with Rider winning a pair of 1-0 games in 2006 and 2005.

“We reminded the players at halftime that La Salle came back on us last season,” Hussong said.  “I was hoping for a better performance in the second half, La Salle really had us with our backs to the wall.  Kudos to them, they never quit and we had to gut it out.”

Almost 400 fans were in attendance as the Broncs celebrated Alumni Day.

“It is always good to have the alumni come back,” said Hussong.  “They are people that we have grown to love over the years and we even had former players come back who played before I came to Rider and that's great to see.  We always want to give them a great performance.”

“We love our alumni,” Spaeder said.  I played with some of them and really, everyone is just good friends.  We really look up to them and are happy that they were here to support us.”

Rider is 2-0 this season and 38-5 (.884) all-time on Ben Cohen Field, the lighted campus turf field that opened in the Fall of 2010.

The Broncs host Towson University on Friday at 7pm.

-RU-