Friday, August 30, 2024 / Sunday, September 1, 2024
Rider Broncs (0-0, 0-0 NEC) vs. Colgate Raiders (0-0)/Mercyhurst Lakers (0-0, 0-0 NEC)
Location: Hamilton, NY/Ben Cohen Field
Time: 4:00 PM / 12:00 PM
Live Stats: ColgateAthletics.com (Friday)  / GoBroncs.com (Sunday)
Broadcast: ESPN+ (Friday) / BroncVision (Sunday)
 
What You Need To Know
- Friday's season opener will be at Colgate and Sunday's game will be both the home opener and the first conference action for the Broncs in 2024.
- The Broncs were picked to finish fourth in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll. Rider finished in a three-way tie for third in the NEC last season under then first-year head coach Alicia Govannicci.
- Rider has won four-straight season openers, defeating Central Michigan, 4-3, last season, Bellarmine, 4-1, in 2022, La Salle, 3-2, in overtime in 2021, and LIU, 1-0, in the spring 2021 campaign.
- Rider returns a pair of First-Team All-NEC performers from a season ago in Valeria Perales (Madrid, Spain/IES Mirasierra) and Lyric Scott (Union, NJ/Union).
- Perales led the Broncs in goals and points for the second-straight season, finishing the year with eight goals and 19 points. Scott was a key member of the Broncs midfield, scoring a pair of goals and helping anchor the Rider defensive penalty corner unit.
- Other key returners in the field include Semra Said (Mannheim, Germany/Feudenheim Gymnasium Mannheim), Megan Normile (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt), Emma Bonshak (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall), Ang Borisow (Harleysville, PA/Souderton), and Kate Mahmud (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown West).
- With the departure of Carlee Fulton, who played all but 15 minutes between the pipes a season ago, returners Brooke Golbeski (Jamison, PA/Central Bucks West) and Moira Geiger (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield) will be joined by freshman Jade Regnart (Cape Town, South Africa/Fairmont) to split the minutes in goal.
- Rider's roster features players from four different countries, Germany, South Africa, Spain, and the United States.
- Rider leads the all-time series over Colgate 16-13, but the Raiders did earn the victory last season, topping the Broncs 2-1 in overtime.
- The meeting between the Broncs and Lakers will be the first ever matchup between the programs with Mercyhurst making the jump to Division I ahead of this season.
- Colgate finished 3-15 last season. Alice Walton in the Raiders top offensive returner, after scoring three goals and adding a pair of assists in 2023.
- Mercyhurst went 2-14 last season, their final in Division II. The Lakers lose their top three goal scorers from a season ago, who combined for 18 of Mercyhurst's 29 goals.