LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Seniors Michelle Iacono (Merrick, NY/Calhoun) and Shannon Kelly (Mineola, NY/Kellenberg Memorial) and junior Kourtney Cunningham (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) each scored a goal and added an assist as the Rider University women's soccer team overpowered Iona, 4-0, on Senior Day Saturday afternoon on Ben Cohen Field. Valeria Pascuet (Bunuel, Navarra, Spain/San Fermin Ikastola) also added a pair of assists for the Broncs, who improve to 4-8-2 (4-2-2 MAAC). The Gaels slip to 2-12-2 (1-6-1 MAAC).
 
The Broncs struck first in the 26^th minute, with Pascuet playing the ball wide to Cunningham, before Cunningham played the ball over the top into the middle of the box to Iacono. The senior secured the ball with a defender on her hip before firing inside the right post for the 1-0 lead. In the 32^nd minute, Kelly put a shot on goal that was saved, but McCabe was there to shoot low past the goalkeeper and an Iona defender, giving Rider a 2-0 lead at halftime.
 
It was more of the same in the second half, as Iacono sent a cross to Kelly inside the box in the 60^th minute. Kelly shot low and Iona goalkeeper Tiffany Martinez got a piece of it but couldn't stop it. With exactly two minutes remaining, Cunningham delivered the final dagger. Pascuet possessed through the midfield and played Cunningham to the top right of the 18-yard box. Cunningham hit a shot over Martinez's head that she got a fingertip on, but could not slow down enough.
 
Quotes & Notes
"I thought the performance was solid from the start. We dominated the first 15 minutes and then you want to get a goal. Michelle scored a really quality goal. The passing movement was there. To get that goal after the initial start of the game was critical."
 
"This group in particular, the way they're playing right now, sometimes there's a lot of pressure for seniors. They don't perform as well in their senior year for whatever reason. So for us to have a group of seniors who are starters and are playing the best they've ever played – Michelle is playing the best soccer of her career, Maddie is playing the best, Schmitty is playing unbelievable as a defender and Shannon never gives the ball away. And obviously Ellie, who everyone knows about. It was great to get her to start the game and unfortunately she had to come off. They're a group who've come in, won a MAAC Championship and then kept going. And this is driving them again this year. It's great to have their experience and senior leadership driving the younger players, because we do have a young team. So when we don't have them around, and we won't have them around, because pretty much they're all graduating in December, hopefully the rest of the team has learned what it means to be a Rider Women's Soccer player."  – Rider Head Coach Drayson Hounsome
  
"I saw Michelle run down the line and I just screamed for it. And she actually said to me after, 'good thing you screamed, because I was just going to shoot it.' And I just hit it and I just prayed it went in and I had a good look today and it went into the back of the net."
 
"It's literally such an honor to play for this team. I wouldn't be here without my teammates. I'm so happy that we won. We've worked so hard. We came out really bad in the beginning. We had a really slow start. But we've really picked it up and I really believe in us. This is a great win and it really sets us up for next week." – Senior Shannon Kelly
 
- Rider now owns a 13-6-2 advantage in the all-time against the Gaels, including a five-game winning streak.
- The Broncs are now unbeaten in their last four games, including wins in each of their last two. Rider is 4-1-2 over its last seven games.
- The clean sheet was the Broncs' second consecutive and third of the year.
- The Broncs' five seniors – Iacono, Kelly, Maddie Lipton (Los Angeles, CA/El Camino Real Charter), Emily Schmitt (Bellmore, NY/W.C. Mepham) and Ellie Smith (Norwich, England/Norwich City) were honored prior to the game.

Broncs By The Numbers
- The goal and assist were each Iacono's team-leading seventh of the season and give her 21 points on the season. She ranks second in the MAAC in points, third in goals and fifth in assists.
- Iacono joined Smith with 18 career goals to pull into a tie for seventh all-time in program history.
- With her two assists, Pascuet doubled her season total and now has seven assists for her career.
- Cunningham scored her fifth goal of the season, matching her total from 2015. The assist was her second of the year.
- Kelly had not scored a goal in her last 35 games and did not have an assist in her last 38 games before Saturday's match. The drought dating back to her sophomore season, when she scored two goals and had two assists.
- Carmen Carbonell (Valencia, Spain/Guadalaviar) made four saves on the day for her third shutout of the season. Over her last nine games, she's posted a 0.57 goals-against average and an .868 save percentage.
- The Broncs outshot Iona, 18-14, including an 11-4 advantage in shots on goal.
- Iona took seven corner kicks to the Broncs' four.