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Is it better to be lucky or good?

The Rider Broncs must be good because luck had nothing to do with it.

The Rider Broncs have won their first-ever Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship, upsetting the second seed Fairfield Sunday afternoon at Monmouth. “This is absolutely massive for our program,” said Rider head coach Drayson Hounsome. “When I took over this program seven years ago we had two wins. All of the players who came through the program in my seven years have all contributed to this day.”

The official scoring result is a tie, with Rider advancing by way of a shoot-out. “We practice penalties (penalty kicks) and we knew there was a good chance this would come to that,” Hounsome said.  “We were prepared.” Either way, the Broncs will now compete in the NCAA tournament for the first time in their 18-year history. The selection show is Monday at 4:30 on NCAA.org. The Rider team and fans will have a gathering to watch the show. Many soccer fans frown upon games being decided on a shoot-out, that sometimes luck plays too big a role in them.

“No luck what-so-ever,” Hounsome insisted.  “We have the best goalie in the conference. We were confident once it went to penalties we knew we were going to win. When you have a great keeper, you love it.”

Rider (12-5-3) sophomore goalkeeper Bethany-May Howard (Glastonbury, England/Bridgwater College) made five saves in the contest, but her sixth save of the day was her biggest, in the shootout. “I was confident,” Howard said.  “I knew I only had to save one or two because the people we had taking them were going to make them.”

Howard allowed two goals in the three playoff victories and was named the Championship MVP.

Also named to the All-Tournament team were senior back Becca Kape (Westfield, NJ/Westfield), sophomore Priscilla Santos (Glendora, Calif./Glendora) and sophomore Heather Maierle (Wantagh, N.Y./Friends Academy).

Maierle scored the fifth and deciding penalty kick to give Rider the berth in the NCAA Tournament. “I was a little nervous but once Beth saved one it took some pressure off of me,” Maierle said. “When it went in it was the most exciting feeling ever.”

Santos, a Second Team All-MAAC selection, scored the lone goal in Rider’s semifinal upset of the top seed, Monmouth.

In the Title Game Sunday sophomore Hollie Kelsh (Lancashire, England/Sandbach) took a crossing pass from freshman Ellie Smith (Norwich, England/Norwich City) and scored in the 63rd minute to give the Broncs a 1-0 lead. “Hollie did a great job getting on the end of a cross,” Hounsome said. Kelsh also scored in the shootout, along with senior Daisy Allen (Portsmouth, England/Bristol Academy), sophomoreMichelle Iacono (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun), Santos and Maierle.

Fairfield (15-5-2) tied the score with less than eight minutes left in regulation on a 40-yard free kick that just grazed the bottom of the cross bar and deflected past Howard.

Fairfield out-shot Rider 12-8.

Since it was not technically a win, Rider was denied gaining a lucky 13th victory, which would be a program record for wins in a season. Rider won 12 games in 2004, the last time the Broncs reached the MAAC title game. After finishing the regular season going 5-1-2 over the final eight games to finish in fourth place, the Broncs defeated the fifth seed, the first seed and the second seed to win its first MAAC Title, despite having its two First Team All-Conference selections, Player of the Year junior Tara Ballay (Delran, NJ/Delran) and Iacono on crutches for five of those final eight games. Two members of the MAAC All-Rookie Team, freshman Emily Schmitt (Bellmore, N.Y. /W.C. Mepham) and freshman Maddie Lipton (Los Angeles, Calif. /El Camino Real Charter), also spent the Championship Game on crutches, suffering ankle injuries over the last three games.

Despite the unlucky injuries, the Broncs are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.

Luck had nothing to do with it.