Thursday, August 15, 2024
Rider Broncs (0-0-0, 0-0-0 MAAC) vs. Wagner Seahawks (0-0-0, 0-0-0 NEC)
Location: Staten Island, NY – Hameline Field
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Tickets – MAACSports.com
Live Video – NEC Front Row
Live Stats – WagnerAthletics.com

What You Need To Know
- The Rider University women's soccer team opens the 2024 season Thursday at Wagner.
- The Broncs and Seahawks will open the season against each other for the fourth-straight season and each of the last five seasons that non-conference play has taken place (excluding the Spring 2020-21 season in which only conference play was contested following the cancellation of the Fall 2020 season due to COVID-19).
- The August 15 opener marks the earliest calendar date that the Broncs have begun a season, two days earlier than August 17 openers in 2018 and 2023.
- Each of the last seven meetings between Rider and Wagner, dating back to 2016, have been decided by one goal. Rider has won the last two – a 3-2 decision in 2022 and a 1-0 victory last year.
- The Broncs own a 9-5 advantage in the all-time series, which dates back to the inaugural season of Rider women's soccer, 1997. Since three-straight Seahawks victories to begin the series, Rider has won nine of the last 11.
- Rider was picked tied for fifth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll. The Broncs are in search of their 12^th-straight MAAC Tournament berth in 2024. Rider reached the MAAC Semifinals as the No. 6 seed a year ago, upsetting third-seeded Canisius in the quarterfinals, before falling to top-seeded and eventual MAAC Champion Quinnipiac in the semifinals.
- Graduate goalkeeper Ellie Sciancalepore returns for her fifth season at Rider, twice earning All-MAAC honors. She took Second Team All-MAAC accolades in 2023 after earning the MAAC Golden Glove, representative of the top goalie in the league, along with First Team honors in 2022. Sciancalepore was picked to the 2024 Preseason All-MAAC Team.
- The Broncs must replace the production of their two leading goal scorers from a year ago in Chloe Fisher and Hannah Freeman, who scored four goals apiece. Ava Ferrie, the Broncs' assists leader with three to go along with two goals in her freshman campaign of 2023, and Logan Racine (two goals in 2023) are the Broncs' top returning scorers from last season.
- Leonor Alves and Margret Fridriksson also return after scoring one goal each last season, while Courtney Carter, Genevieve Ryan, Bethie Morgan and Alves also return after contributing an assist in 2023.
- The Broncs welcomed a 10-member incoming recruiting class for the 2024 season, comprised of University of Rhode Island transfer Jordyn Allen and nine freshmen – Joanna Abdelmalak, Megan Cairns, Ava DeGeorge, Tess Ferrie, Isabell Kronow, Kaia Lyn, Leah Marcell, Annie Small and Valgerður Sigurjónsdóttir.
- Rider is led by 17^th-year Head Coach Drayson Hounsome, who's collected 122 wins at the helm of the Broncs. Hounsome guided Rider to the 2014 MAAC Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.