By Jerome Bailey, Staff Writer
At Hofstra Field Hockey Stadium on Sunday afternoon, in sudden death overtime, both the Rider and Hofstra fans were anxious and sitting on the edges of their seats, anticipating the game-winning goal. With 13:58 remaining, the anticipation became rejoice and celebration for the Pride fans.
Junior Arielle Williams nailed the thrilling game-winning goal on a penalty shot, completing the comeback for the Pride. The goal was the second of the day, for Williams. Williams scored against substitute junior Rebecca Lotito, who entered the game for the shot, after a Pride shot was illegally touched on the goalie.
“I was actually kind of zoned out, during the play,” Williams said of the game-winning goal. “I am just happy we were able to come back and get the win.”
With the win, the Pride improves to 3-2 and the Broncs dropped their second straight, falling to 3-2. The win for the Pride also was redemption, since it lost to the Broncs 1-0 last season. The game was the nineteenth meeting between the two teams and despite the loss, the Broncs still hold the series advantage 10-9.
The Pride struggled throughout the game and quickly found itself in a 2-0 deficit. In the first half, the Broncs were outplaying the Pride in all facets of the game. With just over three minutes in the first half, Rider junior Megan Pisani scored her fifth goal of the season, giving the Broncos a 1-0 lead. The Broncs were playing aggressive, relentless and fierce defense, stripping the Pride of any offensive production.
It took the Pride nearly seven minutes to even get a shot off. When the Pride did get a couple shots off, Broncs goalie Rachel Yacovett was there to stop the Pride. Towards the end of the first half, Broncs junior Virginia Egusquiza scored her first goal of the year, backhanding a shot from the top of the circle, extending the Bronc’s lead to 2-0.
At the half, the Broncs had outshot the Pride 10-3, and had seven penalty corners to the Pride’s two. However, despite being outplayed and trailing at the half, the Pride was not ready to throw in the towel.
“Keep your head up, girls, stick to our game plan,” head coach Kathy De Angelis said to her team during halftime. “Put the first half behind us, it’s over, we cannot go back. We can just come out and play better in the second half.”
The Pride certainly did listen to its coach and came out in the second half a different team. The girls were matching the Broncs aggressiveness and came roaring back to tie the game in the second half. Two minutes into the half, Pride sophomore Krizia Layne scored her fourth goal of the season off a penalty corner, assisted by senior Becky Kazaks to cut the Bronc’s lead to 2-1. Later in the half, Williams deflected a shot by Pride senior Nancy Wagenbrenner to tie the game a 2-2.
“We came out much stronger and better in the second half and we did not give up. We were very relentless. This was a great test and win for us as we get ready for conference play in a couple of weeks,” said De Angelis.
Junior Genna Kovar (24) dribbles past a Drexel defender in 2009. (Josh Zager/ The Chronicle)
