LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Making her first-career start, freshman back Niamh Cashin (Nottingham, England/All Saints Academy) scored her first career goal as the Rider University women’s soccer team scored a win over five-time defending MAAC Regular Season Champion and preseason favorite Monmouth to open league play Sunday evening on Ben Cohen Field. With the win, the Broncs improve to 5-2-1 (1-0-0 MAAC), while the Hawks slip to 5-3-1 (0-1-0 MAAC).

The decisive moment in the game came in the 11^th minute, when the Broncs were awarded a corner kick. Valeria Pascuet (Bunuel, Navarra, Spain/San Fermin Ikastola) sent the corner to the far, left post, finding Meghan McCabe (Massapequa Park, NY/Massapequa), who elevated to head it down to Cashin at the goal line for the tap in.

Rider withstood a steady Monmouth attack that enjoyed a 17-8 edge in shots, including an 8-5 edge in shots on target. But sophomore goalkeeper Carmen Carbonell (Valencia, Spain/Guadalaviar School) was equal to the challenge, making eight saves to secure her first clean sheet of the year.  

Quotes and Notes

“It was a brilliant result. I was optimistic coming in. I think we’ve got a really talented group. We’ve got good energy. I’ve spoken many times with the team about energy winning games. We’ve learned how to develop that energy over the last couple of years. Monmouth are an outstanding team. They’re still the best team in the conference. They’re still the team that’s the favorite, and rightly so. But tonight was our night.” - Rider Head Coach Drayson Hounsome 

“We had great energy. We came into the game confident and that showed in our play today. We had a game plan, we stuck to it, got the goal and defending really well.”

“It’s a good start. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. It’s the first game. But we can gain confidence from this and take it into our next game against Niagara.”

“It’s been a frustrating few weeks not playing. To play was great, but to score was better.” – Freshman back Niamh Cashin  

- Monmouth had won each of the last three meetings with the Broncs since Rider knocked off the top-seeded Hawks in the 2014 MAAC Championship Semifinals en route to an NCAA Tournament berth. The win was the Broncs’ first in the regular season over the Hawks since Monmouth joined the MAAC in 2013. Rider cut Monmouth’s lead in the all-time series to 12-4-3.
- Monmouth entered the contest 44-3-3 over its five years in the MAAC. The Hawks had not lost a conference opener since joining the league. Rider joins Canisius, Marist and Quinnipiac as the only teams to knock off the Hawks in the regular season.
- Cashin entered the game with just 28 minutes played this season, all of which came last time out at Delaware State. She played the full 90 minutes in her first-career start. Cashin had spent time away from the Broncs early in the season after being called up for England’s U-19 National Team training.
- After conceding the game’s first goal in its first five, Rider has now scored first its last three.
- Rider has won its last three. The last time Rider won three-straight came in 2016, when the Broncs won four-straight games to open MAAC play.  

Broncs By The Numbers
- Pascuet collected her team-leading third assist of the year.
- Carbonell has now made seven saves or more in each of the six games she’s played more than 39 minutes. She made her return after departing the Columbia game in the 39^th minute after making four saves without allowing a goal.
- McCabe’s assist was her first of her career to go along with six goals.
- The Hawks held an 8-2 edge in corner kicks. 

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