LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Niamh Cashin (Nottingham, England/All Saints Academy) and Hailey Russell (Riverside, NJ/Riverside) both scored second-half goals as the Rider University women’s soccer team defeated St. Francis Brooklyn, 2-0, Wednesday night on Ben Cohen Field. With the win, the Broncs improve to 2-0, while the Terriers slip to 0-2.

Following a scoreless first half, the Broncs got on the board in the 56^th minute. Cashin got a head on Valeria Pascuet’s (Bunuel, Navarra, Spain/San Fermin Ikastola) corner kick to break the deadlock. In the 85^th minute, the Broncs got some insurance as Pascuet passed ahead from the midfield on one touch to Emily Curteis (Llanfyllin, Wales/Liverpool John Moores), who quickly found Russell in the box. The freshman then finished with the right foot past a defender and the goalkeeper inside the right post.  

Quotes and Notes

“It’s always pleasing when such a young group of players are scoring goals. Sophomores and freshmen have been scoring our goals. But we’ve got a ton of work to do. We’ve got runs offside, we’re missing some chances. We’ve played OK, but we’re getting some wins.”

(On young players getting starting opportunities) “It’s based on how they’ve performed. It’s purely what we saw for the first two weeks of preseason. Obviously we played two preseason games. They had an opportunity and they’ve earned those starting positions. It’s a good thing. It makes everyone else around them and the returners raise their game accordingly. They’ve definitely increased the intensity in our training sessions.” - Rider Head Coach Drayson Hounsome

(On playing against twin sister, Hannah) “It was a little weird. But she’s just like any other player – that’s how I had to take it. It was good to see her, though, after the game. But it was still weird. Like I said, it’s just like any other player and I had to play my game.”

“Never in an actual game did we play against each other. Same team all our lives, so it was different. She knows all my moves from when we’ve practiced together, so it was really different. - Rider freshman Hailey Russell   

- Rider won the inaugural meeting with St. Francis Brooklyn, which is playing its first season of women’s soccer.
- Carmen Carbonell (Valencia, Spain/Guadalaviar School) made four saves to earn her first clean sheet of the year. She now has six shutouts for her career.  
- Cashin and Teresa Richardson (Las Vegas, NV/Bishop Gorman) joined Carbonell in playing all 90 minutes. 

Broncs By The Numbers
- A year after finishing with one goal and one assist, Cashin has already matched her production in two games this year.
- Russell has now scored in both games this year and had a team-best five points.
- Pascuet had two assists after distributing a team-best seven last year. She now has 16 assists for her career.
- Curteis registered her first assist of the year and her second in two years as a Bronc.
- Rider outshot St. Francis, 12-11, including a 10-5 edge in the second half.
- St. Francis took seven corner kicks to the Broncs’ three.   
 

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