Friday, October 13, 2023
Rider Broncs (5-7, 2-1 NEC) vs. Sacred Heart Pioneers (3-8, 1-2 NEC)
Location:  Lawrenceville, NJ
Time: 7:00 PM
Live Stats:  GoBroncs.com
Broadcast: ESPN+
 
What You Need To Know
- Friday's game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
- The Broncs were picked to finish tied for second in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll. Rider won the NEC Regular Season Championship and earned the top seed in the NEC Tournament a season ago before defeating Fairfield, 2-1, in overtime to secure the NEC title and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three seasons.
- Rider has made the postseason 23-straight years, all under former head coach Lori Hussong, who retired following the 2022 season.
- Replacing Hussong is former Bronc Alicia Govannicci, who played under Hussong from 2010-13. Govannicci was an assistant coach at NEC-rival LIU for the past two seasons. Govannicci earned her first career win in the season opener against Central Michigan.
- Of the seven All-Conference performers the Broncs had last season, only Valeria Perales (Madrid, Spain/IES Mirasierra) and Lyric Scott (Union, NJ/Union) return for 2023.
- Perales also earned Second-Team All-Mid Atlantic Region honors after putting together one of the best seasons in program history as a freshman, scoring 20 goals and 49 points, one off the program record in both categories.
- Megan Normile (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) currently ranks third in the nation with five defensive saves.
- Carlee Fulton (West Chester, PA/West Chester) has gotten the start in goal in all 12 games this season, compiling 41 saves and a 1.70 goals against average.
- Rider's newcomers have supplied a majority of the offense this season. Carli Ciocco (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill East[App State]) scored in both of the Broncs' first two games, earning NEC Offensive Player of the Week honors for her efforts. Willemijn Ephraim (Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Vossius Gymnasium) scored twice in the victory over Central Michigan to take home NEC Rookie of the Week honors. Ciocco and Ephraim currently lead the Broncs with four goals and Ephraim has the outright team lead with 10 points.
- Kiera Guckavan (Middletown, PA/Middletown Area) has a goal and four assists in Rider's last four games earning back-to-back NEC Prime Performer honors. She and Ephraim each had a goal and an assist in the Broncs 2-0 win over Stonehill last time out.
- The Broncs have done a good job this season of earning corners when getting in the circle, drawing 7.3 corners per game, 15^th in the nation.
- Rider's roster features players from four different countries, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, and the United States.
- Rider leads the all-time series over Sacred Heart 26-8, including a 2-0 shutout win last season. Kaitlyn Tomas played all 60 live minutes of the game, but it was Fulton who came in off the bench to save a penalty stroke that preserved the shutout.
- Isabelle Chamerlain leads the Pioneers' offense with six goals and 14 points. Sacred Heart has had issues on the defensive end, allowing 4.09 goals per game, but has cut that number to 2.67 in conference play.