Box Score College Field Hockey
Rider University 3, Sacred Heart University 0
NEW HAVEN, CT— The 'devotion to the Sacred Heart' is one of the most widely practiced and well-known religious devotions, concerned with compassion towards humanity and its long suffering.
The Rider Broncs showed little compassion Friday night toward the Sacred Heart University field hockey team's long suffering, defeating the winless Pioneers in dominating fashion.
The Broncs defeated Sacred Heart in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Friday afternoon held at Yale University.
“Every conference game is important and any time you play a team that hasn't won you can't take a chance of having a letdown, thinking the game is won before it even starts,” said Rider head coach Lori Hussong.
Sacred Heart defeated Rider here in Connecticut 2-1 in 2014, snapping a nine game losing streak to the Broncs.
On Friday, Rider (8-6, 2-1 MAAC) out-shot Sacred Heart (0-12, 0-3 MAAC) 16-1, including 10-1 in shots on goal. The Broncs had 10 penalty corners to just one for the Pioneers.
“Sacred Heart did not quit today, they are a fighting team that played hard,” Hussong said. “Our defense played very well.”
Rider senior Carlie Spaeder (Newtown Square, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) scored five minutes into the second half to give Rider a 3-0 lead. Spaeder put a move on the Pioneer goalie and scored into the open cage.
“We came out a little flat in the second half but once Carlie scored that goal we played better,” Hussong said.
It was Spaeder's sixth goal of the season. “Her goal today was outstanding,” Hussong said. “She went one-on-one with the goalie and scored.”
Junior Melissa Cunningham (Oaklyn/Collingswood) scored on an assist from graduate student Leigh Maxwell-Smith (Vancouver, BC) to give Rider a 2-0 lead in the 27th minute of play.
It was Cunningham's third goal of the season.
Junior Shannon Hughes (South Plainfield) scored on an assist from senior Carlota Alsina (Barcelona, Spain) to take a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute of play.
It was the seventh assist of the season for Alsina, third most in the MAAC. It was her 27th career assist, eight most ever at Rider.
It was Hughes' third goal of the season.
Rider freshman goalkeeper Emily Gilligan (West Deptford) made one save.
Rider defeated Sacred Heart 3-1 last year in Lawrenceville. Rider leads the all-time series over Sacred Heart 21-7.
Rider is home Sunday for a 12 noon MAAC game against first place Monmouth. “If we give our best effort Sunday that is all we can ask of our players,” Hussong said. “We feel we have an advantage over Monmouth on our home field but we have to show we have the heart to finish off the game.”
Finish off the game, with little compassion for the opponent.
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