BETHLEHEM, Pa.–In a tale of two halves, the Broncs lost a two-goal lead, giving up four second half goals, falling in a non-conference game at Lehigh Wednesday night. \”I’ve always said a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead you can have and unfortunately, I was right tonight,\” said head coach Lori Hussong.
Rider (6-6) opened the scoring 14 minutes into the game with senior Emily Egan (Gibbsboro, N.J./Eastern) hitting the back of the cage. For Egan, it was her first goal of the season in only her second game after returning from a stress fracture and a torn ACL that kept her sidelined for the last year. Junior Diana Celebre (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem) assisted on the goal.
\”Diana made a great move and there was an opportunity to make an offensive play and I went for it,\” said Egan who’s last game was against Lehigh on October 8, 2006 before being sidelined with a stress fracture missing the final eight games of the season. Egan tore an ACL in the spring causing her to miss the first 10 games this season. \”It feels great to be back on the field and able to help the team. It was a long road back.\”
\”Having Emily back in the lineup is huge for us,\” said Hussong. \”Her effort, the senior leadership that she brings to the team, it is just a big lift to have her back and it was very emotional when she scored tonight.\”
Freshman Lindsay Rajeski (New Egypt, N.J./New Egypt) notched her third goal of the season two minutes later off assists from junior Julie Vaccarelli (Oceanport, N.J./Shore Regional) and freshman Margaret Ecke (New Egypt, N.J./New Egypt) and Rider led 2-0 at the half.
The Mountain Hawks scored two minutes into the second half and tied the game four minutes later. Lehigh (6-6) notched the eventual game-winner with 19 minutes left in the game and added an insurance goal with just over two minutes left.
\”I’m disappointed with our effort in the second half,\” Hussong said. \”Even in the first half, Lehigh was taking it to us and we weren’t defending very well. Lehigh got a quick goal and the momentum to start the second half and really took it to us. If we would have battled and shown effort for the ’50-50’ plays, I wouldn’t be so upset. But we’ve had a reoccurring theme this season not making those plays and that’s not acceptable. It comes down to a point where the ‘Rider pride, the Rider way of playing field hockey’ has to show and that wasn’t there tonight.\”
The Mountain Hawks out-shot Rider 9-5 in the second half and 13-11 for the game.
\”You don’t ever want to lose but we are fortunate to have the opportunity from a non-conference game to learn from our mistakes,\” Egan said. \”We will get back to work at practice tomorrow (Thursday) and we will make sure we are ready for the conference game on Friday.\”
Bronc senior goalie Jen LoCastro (Cherry Hill/Camden Catholic) made five saves as Lehigh held a 12-3 advantage in penalty corners including an 8-0 second half advantage.
\”Jen kept us in the game,\” Hussong added. \”If she doesn’t make some great plays, the game could have really gotten out of hand. Our defense didn’t do anything to help her out and she deserved a better fate tonight. The score is not reflective of J-Lo’s effort.\”
In a battle of unbeaten conference rivals, Rider hosts defending conference champion Lock Haven in a Northeast Conference game on Friday at 4:00pm.
\”Every game from here on out is important,\” Hussong added. \”There are inherent things that we need to do better and with the conference game on Friday, we need to figure out the mistakes we made tonight and more importantly, correct them going forward.\”
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