LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Michelle Iacono (Merrick, NY/Calhoun) scored twice and added a pair of assists in the Rider University women's soccer team's 4-1 victory over Fairfield Saturday night on Ben Cohen Field. With the win, the Broncs improve to 2-7-0 (2-1-0 MAAC), while the Stags slip to 4-5-0 (2-1-0 MAAC).
 
Iacono lined up the Broncs' first goal of the game exactly 14 minutes into the first half with a strong individual effort from 30 yards out. She lofted a ball into the box where a streaking Ellie Smith (Norwich, England/Norwich City) couldn't quite get to it, but the ball still curled inside the right post. Less than three minutes later, Iacono forced a Fairfield turnover inside the box and her touch led to Sam Picinich's (North Bellmore, NY/Mepham) first goal of the year. Fairfield would get a goal back in the 21^st minute as Faith Daley and Jenny Jacobs connected on passes into the box to Sara Plowman for the 1v1 finish against Rider goalkeeper Carmen Carbonell (Valencia, Spain/Guadalaviar School).
 
Following more than 27 scoreless minutes in the second half, Iacono unleashed a low shot from 20 yards out to the top, left corner of the box that beat Fairfield goalkeeper Megan DeFeo for a 3-1 Rider lead. With Iacono threatening for a third goal less than a minute later on a breakaway to the top of the box, DeFeo was sent off with a red card for her defense of the play. Up a player, the Broncs sealed the game with Kourtney Cunningham's (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) tally in the 90^th minute off assists from Iacono and Picinich which played her up the left side of the box for the finish.
 
Quotes & Notes
"The first 45 minutes were arguably one of the best performances I've seen since my time here, to dominate a really good team and not really give them any chances. The one goal they scored was kind of a lapse. So it was a really strong first 45 minutes. And then we showed good character to start the second half. We knew they'd come out and squeeze us a little bit. But we absorbed that 15 minutes and we dug deep."
 
"Fabulous performance. We got six points (this week). That's the most important thing and the performances are getting better. We came in a week later, so we knew it would take us a bit of time with this team to get them going. But the signs are there that we're moving in a real positive direction.
 
"I think she's just starting to feel her confidence. Michelle's a fantastic player. Attackers feed off her confidence. They want confidence. If they're not confident, they don't try things, they don't shoot. That third goal is just a shot. Is she doesn't shoot, it doesn't go in." – Rider Head Coach Drayson Hounsome
 
"Things are working well for me, but it's because of what I have surrounding me. With the midfield and forwards and us working together, it's taken a bit of time, but now it's finally all coming together. With the passing and the movement, it helps a lot to get shots on goal, play balls in, people getting on the end of them and it's all coming together really nicely."
 
"Wednesday (at Monmouth) is a big game. To be successful, we all just need to stay positive. Our record in the beginning did not dictate or show what we were capable of. Now, it's starting to show what were capable of. We're coming off two wins, we're going into a big game. I think we can have a lot of success in that game if we go out there strong, believe in each other, play with heart and, like tonight, leave everything on the field." – Senior forward Michelle Iacono
 
- The home team has won each of the last five regular season games between the Broncs and Stags, with Rider taking wins in Lawrenceville in 2013, 2015 and 2017, while Fairfield won on Lessing Field in 2014 and 2016. In the lone match in the series not on either team's home field, Rider and Fairfield played to a 1-1 tie in the 2014 MAAC Championship Game at Monmouth, with Rider advancing to the NCAA Tournament on penalty kicks.   

Broncs By The Numbers
- Cunningham's goal gives her a team-best four, ahead of Iacono (3) and Ellie Smith (3).
- Iacono's two assists in the game give her five for the year, three ahead of the next-closest Bronc and accounting for half of Rider's 10 assists this season.
- The goal was the first of the year for Picinich, while the assist was her second in as many games.
- Iacono dished out her 15^th and 16^th career assists.
- Fairfield narrowly outshot Rider, 15-14, but just four of the Stags' shots were on target to the Broncs' nine shots on goal.
- The Broncs took five corner kicks to the Stags' four.