Field hockey eyes rematch with Lock Haven

By Kristie Kahl

Ding, ding, ding! Round two coming up!

Just five days after falling short to Lock Haven, 2-1, in the regular season finale, the field hockey team is set to do battle with the Eagles once more today in the opening round of the Northeast Conferece (NEC) tournament.

Only this time, it counts more. That is a heavy statement considering that a Rider win on Sunday would have forced a four-way tie in the conference for first place with Lock Haven, Sacred Heart and Quinnipiac all recording 6-2 marks.

As an alternative, Lock Haven won the NEC title outright with a 7-1 record and Rider held on for the fourth and final seed at 5-3.

“We played well against Lock Haven, even took the first lead of the game,” said senior midfielder/back Liz Butterbaugh. “We’ve looked over our mistakes and corrected them and look forward to getting back on the field with them.”

With a winning season (12-6 overall) under their belts, the Broncs, who have a history of postseason excellence, hope to continue their success in the NEC tournament.

According to GoBroncs.com, the team has won the conference tournament in every even-numbered year with Lori Hussong as coach. In 2000, 2002 and 2004, the team advanced to the NCAA Tournament. They are 9-3 lifetime in the tournament and are 1-2 against Lock Haven since the series began in 2004.

“We just have to dig deep within ourselves and play with urgency and gusto,” said junior forward Stephanie Walker, who’s first on the team in shots on goal (47). “And not allow ourselves to have any letdowns.”

Lock Haven (15-5 overall, 7-1 in NEC) is powered by four of the conference’s best scorers, including Blair Wynne (second with 22 goals) and Sarah Huber (third with 14 goals). The Eagles lead the conference in nearly every major statistical category, including shots (421), points (200), goals (73), goals allowed (22) and shutouts (8).

Rider, meanwhile, was third in shots (275), third in points (114), third in goals (43), second in goals allowed (23) and second in shutouts (7).

“I don’t care how skilled a team is,” said Walker. “The team with the most heart and dedication to the game is going to come out on top, and I think we all just need to get that in our minds, because we have a very strong team skill-wise.”

Besides the Lock Haven game, the Broncs have other teams to concern themselves with. After all, the victor of Friday’s game will play the winner of the Sacred Heart-Quinnipiac game the next day.

“Any team concerns me,” said Walker. “It’s just a matter of looking at every team the same and knowing that our team can step up to the challenge and come out on top.”

Because the game will be played at Lock Haven, which has an artificial playing field, Rider will not have home field advantage, a fact the team admits is difficult to deal with.

“Playing on turf, for us, is a disadvantage since we do have a grass field, but I feel we have done well on turf this year, playing some of our better games,” Walker said. “Also, we have been able to get turf time this week for our practices leading into the tournament, so this will hopefully take away any advantage the turf teams would have on us.”

Rider won the 2004 and 2006 NEC titles at Monmouth.

Today’s game begins at 11 a.m.; Saturday’s game, if necessary, is scheduled for noon.