LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Makenzie Rodrigues (Seattle, WA/Forest Ridge) and Chloe Fisher (Warrington, England/Cronton Sixth Form College [Kansas State] scored goals for the Broncs, but the Rider University women's soccer team fell to Wagner, 3-2, in the season opener Friday night at Ben Cohen Field. With the loss, the Broncs fall to 0-1-0, while the Seahawks are now 1-0-0.

Following a scoreless first half, the Seahawks broke the deadlock as Emma Roe collected an errant pass in the Rider defensive third and fed ahead to Madison Carr, who beat Rider goalkeeper Ellie Sciancalepore (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) 1v1 inside the left post. Less than five minutes later, the Broncs evened the score, as Rodrigues was taken down in the box and converted the PK in the 55^th minute.

But just 1:36 later, Annie White charged in to head in Kayla Barbosa's corner kick to give the lead back to Wagner. The Seahawks tacked on an insurance goal in the 71^st minute, with Carr scoring her second of the game on a header off service from Mia Tessier.

The Broncs pulled to within one goal on Fisher's first goal at Rider. Fisher collected Camryn Dees' (Pickerington, OH/Pickerington H.S. North) service of a free kick from the midfield 10 yards outside the left post and beat Seahawks' goalkeeper Erin Kelly. However, the Seahawks were able to fend off the Broncs' over the final 11-plus minutes to take the victory.

Quotes and Notes
"I think there was moments where we did well. They're a tough team to play early on in the season because they're a little bit more direct and play strong and battle hard and compete hard. So, it's good to see that that's what we have to raise our level to. You can pass the ball around and look all technical and all that kind of stuff. But unless we can raise our level of competitiveness, we're always going to struggle against teams like that."

"We scored two goals. We responded well after (Wagner's) goals as well. That was a good sign. We had a couple of chances there at the end. We gave up a couple of sloppy goals, turning the ball over in dangerous places. But early on in the season, when our possession is not as good as it will get, we're going to give up those passes and a decent team was able to capitalize on those." – Rider Head Coach Drayson Hounsome

- Wagner cut the Broncs' lead in the all-time series to 7-5-0. The Broncs had won the last two and seven of the last eight against the Seahawks.
- Sciancalepore made five saves for the Broncs. It was her eighth performance of five saves or more in nine games as a Bronc.
- Sciancalepore and Niamh Cashin (Nottingham, England/All Saints Academy) both played all 90 minutes.
- Genevieve Ryan (Auckland, New Zealand), Fisher, Amanda Mendez (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood), Bridget Doherty (Orangeburg, NY/Albertus Magnus), Logan Racine (Ottawa, Ontario/St. Dominic (Mo.)) and Emily Deluisi (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) each made their Rider debuts.

Broncs By The Numbers
- The reigning MAAC Co-Offensive Player of the Year, Rodrigues scored her 11^th goal as a Bronc. Last season, she scored six goals in six games after scoring four times as a freshman in 2019.
- Fisher's goal was the second of her collegiate career after scoring one goal as a freshman at Kansas State in 2018.
- Dees distributed an assist after leading the Broncs with three last season. She now has seven assists in her Rider career.
- The Seahawks took 13 shots, including eight on goal, to the Broncs' eight, with four on target.
- Wagner also took a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.