College Field Hockey
Rider Hosts Villanova Tuesday
LAWRENCEVILLE—The Rider University field hockey team returns to action on Ben Cohen Field when the Broncs face Villanova University on Tuesday at 4:30pm.
After four of the first five games of the season on the road, Rider enters play with a 2-3 record while the Wildcats are 0-5 after losing to national ranked Michigan 3-0 on September 10.
The Broncs are being led by freshman Daane Koch (The Netherlands) who has a team-high seven points with two goals and three assists. Koch scored Rider's only goal in a 3-1 loss at Providence this past Sunday.
Senior Carlie Spaeder (Newtown Square, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) had two goals and two assists (six points) for Rider with freshman Tess Coorens (Leiden, Netherlands) third on the squad with two goals and one assist (five points).
Koch and Coorens have each been honored by the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference as its Rookie of the Week during the first month of the season.
In goal, freshman Voirrey Baker (Ramsey, British Isles) has started all five games with a 1.67 goals against average. In Rider's last game, Baker was pulled after an early Providence goal with freshman Emily Gilligan (West Deptford) seeing her first extended playing time of the season.
Rider has won six straight in the series and is 11-6-1 all-time against Villanova. The teams last met on October 11, 2015 at Villanova when the Broncs built a 3-1 first half lead on the strength of a Spaeder hat trick and held on for a 4-3 victory.
Rider won at home against 'Nova 3-1 in 2014, with Spaeder scoring the final goal of the game.
Villanova and Rider met in 2013 when the Broncs scored with less than six minutes remaining in a 1-0 victory on Ben Cohen Field.
Rider defeated Villanova 2-0 in Lawrenceville in 2012 and the Broncs defeated the Wildcats at Villanova 3-0 in 2011. Rider defeated Villanova 2-1 in overtime during the 2010 season which at the time was the first Bronc win over the Wildcats since 1993 (1-0 in overtime). The Wildcats defeated Rider in 2008 at Villanova 1-0 on a penalty corner at the end of regulation.
The Broncs won five of six games on Ben Cohen Field last season and are 42-6 (.875) all-time on the lighted campus turf field facility that opened in the fall of 2010.
Tuesday will be the second of only six regular season home games for the Rider field hockey team this season. The Broncs have remaining home dates on September 23 at 4:30pm (St. Francis PA), Alumni Day on October 9 (Bryant) at noon, Play for Cathy Day at noon (October 16) and Senior Night vs. Siena on October 28 at 7pm.
If you can't make the game, Tuesday's contest and every home field hockey game (weather permitting) can be seen on BroncVision and MAAC.TV as part of Rider's pay per view service powered by GoBroncs.com. The game (video only) will be streamed live in high definition.
GameViewer (LiveStats) will also be available, free of charge via the link on GoBroncs.com and live tweets will be sent out which you can follow via twitter @RiderAthletics.
-RU-
