LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Kourtney Cunningham (Whitehall, NY/Whitehall) scored her team-leading seventh goal of the year in the 40^th minute to send the Rider University women’s soccer team past Manhattan, 1-0, Wednesday night on Ben Cohen Field. With the win, the Broncs improve to 7-4-2 (3-2-1 MAAC), while the Jaspers fall to 3-6-2 (2-3-1 MAAC).

Cunningham won the ball in the midfield, dribbled through traffic to the top of the 18-yard box and rifled a shot into the left upper 90 for what proved to be the game winner.

Rider continued to control possession in the second half, outshooting the Jaspers, 9-2, in the period and taking an 8-2 edge in corner kicks.
 

Quotes and Notes

“Quality goal. We actually worked on a similar thing in practice during the week, attacking the defenders, running in the gaps with speed. So, it’s always great when you see something that they’ve worked on in practice come off in the game. Great finish and, if not for our goalkeeper, Carmen, up to that point we might be down a couple of goals. She made a couple of big saves early on. Between the two of them (Cunningham and Carbonell), we were able to get our noses in front and then obviously a real solid team performance throughout to get a good 1-0 win.” - Rider Head Coach Drayson Hounsome 

 

- Rider evened the all-time series with Manhattan at 9-9-6. The win was the Broncs’ first over the Jaspers since 2014. The two teams had tied in three-straight regular-season contests. Though Rider has not lost a regular-season meeting with the Jaspers since 2008 (6-0-3), Manhattan had taken a pair of victories in the MAAC Championships, both on neutral fields, during that time in 2009 and 2015.
- Rider scored first for the sixth time this season and is now 5-1-0 when tallying the game’s first goal.    
- Nikki Arrington (Middleton, MA/Masconomet Regional) made her first career start and took three shots.
- Niamh Cashin (Nottingham, England/All Saints Academy) returned from a two-game absence to play for the England U-19 National Team in UEFA Qualifying in Croatia.

Broncs By The Numbers
- Cunningham's goal was her team-leading seventh of the year, adding to her own personal new single-season career high. She now has 19 career goals, tying her with former teammates Ellie Smith and Michelle Iacono for eighth in program history. She now has 52 career points.
- Sophomore goalkeeper Carmen Carbonell (Valencia, Spain/Guadalaviar School) made five saves in her second clean sheet of the season.
- Rider enjoyed a 20-8 edge in shots, including a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal.
- The Broncs took nine corner kicks to the Jaspers’ four.