Nashua, NH – The Rivier College Raiders pressured on offense all day as they defeated the Newbury College Nighthawks 6-1 in women's soccer action today.  The win improves the Raiders to a 5-3-1 overall mark while the Nighthawks fall to 1-4 on the season.

Raiders forward Sarah Richard (Raymond, NH) put the home team on the scoreboard first, just 2 minutes into the game, taking a pass from fellow freshman Kaitlyn Souza (Wilmington, MA) to find the back of the net.  The Raiders quickly went up 2-0 ten minutes later when Souza scored off a quick rebound from shot by Hillary Hee (Colchester, VT). Rivier tacked on their third goal of the game less than ten minutes after that when Deanna Cetto (Sterling, MA) found the back of the net after stealing a pass from the Newbury defense, making the score 3-0.  With the half winding down, Newbury was able to get on the board as Krista Troy (Broken Arrow, OK) got her own shooting rebound and dropped it over the head of Rivier goalkeeper Christine Surber (Langdon, NH) to make the score 3-1 going into the half.

The second half was dominated on the offensive side by the Raiders, who were constantly pressuring the Newbury zone and giving themselves scoring opportunities.  Souza got her second goal of the game when a failed clear attempt by Newbury found its way to the center of the box and Souza's feet.  Souza put the ball past the left side of Newbury's keeper Kimberly Bibby (Brockton, MA) to give the Raiders a 4-1 advantage.  Rivier's Melissa Buccheri (Valley Stream, NY) added both the 5^th and 6^th goals of the game within two minutes of each other, scoring the first off a corner kick by Meghan Hickey (Hampstead, NH) and the second from a beautiful crossing pass from senior Nina Seher (Nashua, NH), putting the Raiders up 6-1, which would hold up through the end of the game.

Surber would take credit for the win as she played just over 55 minutes in goal, giving up the single goal and recording 1 save on a Newbury breakaway, which she charged and made the stop.  Rivier's Cassandra Brown (Somersworth, NH) played the other 35 minutes in goal and had no saves or goals allowed.  Bibby recorded the loss for the Nighthawks, giving up all 6 goals and stopping another 8 shots on goal.

The Raiders will travel to Boston, MA for a GNAC conference game against Suffolk University on Tuesday, September 28^th at 5:30 PM.  Meanwhile, the Nighthawks will travel to Anna Maria College on the same day for a 4:00 PM game.