Dis-Heartened at the end

By Joe Haubrich

The field hockey team followed their pattern under head coach Lori Hussong, losing in the finals of the Northeast Conference (NEC) championship.

Hussong became head coach of the Broncs in 2000. The team won the NEC title in 2000, 2002 and 2004. In 2001, 2003 and 2005 they were one game short of taking home the title. The losses every other year may be disheartening to team members, but the feat is incredible nonetheless. Hussong was named NEC Coach of the Year for winning a third straight regular season championship in another fruitful season.

“If you had told me before the season started that we would win the regular season and advance to the title game, I would have been very satisfied with that,” said Hussong.

The Broncs were defeated 1-0 by Sacred Heart. The defenses battled, but Rider allowed a goal 6:45 minutes into the second half and would never get even. Sacred Heart outshot Rider 7-6 and junior goalkeeper Krysta Bearish made four saves.

“It was a battle of two teams who were equal today,” said Hussong. “Krysta really stepped up today and played very well. She kept us in the game.”

The team went 7-1 in NEC competition during the regular season. The Broncs took out fourth-ranked Fairfield by a score of 3-2 in the first round of the championship tournament hosted at Rider.

Sacred Heart won its first NEC championship and will play the winner of the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Nov. 8 in the NCAA Play-In Game.

This year was supposed to be a rebuilding year after Rider lost five four-year seniors, including Christina Ang, who is the all-time leader in goals for both Rider and the entire NEC. Fortunately, veterans including seniors Courtney Bertos and Victoria Barrington stepped up, as well as freshman Tricia Crotty, all of which were named to the all- tournament team.

Crotty scored 11 goals this season, good for third highest on the team. Five of her goals were game-winning goals. Crotty won Rookie of the Year honors and was named to the All-NEC second team along with senior Ally Hunter. She was also named Rider University Athlete of the Month for October.

Three Broncs were named to the All-NEC first team. Bertos and Barrington were joined by sophomore Stephanie Walker. Walker ranked 11th in the nation with an NEC-high 34 points, and ranked 10th in the nation with an NEC-high 14 goals. Bertos won first team honors all four years of her collegiate career and led the NEC with eight assists.

Rider has nothing to be disappointed about because it accomplished so much in 2005.

“We set goals before the season started and we were able to accomplish two of them: winning the regular season crown and reaching today’s championship game,” said Bearish. “We just fell a little short of the third goal.”

The Broncs had beaten Sacred Heart 4-0 in early October. Rider will look to get revenge next season. It’s an even-numbered year, so Sacred Heart and the rest of the NEC are probably doomed.