The Riders added to their lead in the 24th minute after Bell passed to Olivia Armstrong just outside of the box, and after a sharp cut onto her left foot, Armstrong put a low strike past Sundheim for a 2-0 lead. With less than a minute left, the Bluehawks had kept the game close against one of the premier teams in the league, thanks in large part to Sundheim in goal and Hailey Hollenbeck in the midfield, but they could not fight off another Rider goal before the half, as Mandy Lardizabal finished off a centering pass from Morgna Van Alstyne.

The second half played out very much like the first, with the Riders putting in goals and having more chances, but the young feisty Bluehawks put up a fight. Four minutes into the second half, the Riders extended their lead to four when a cross by Jess Van Alstyne was bodied down into the box, where Kylie Watt calmly finished it. In the 68th minute, Watt added her second goal after another Jess Van Alstyne cross went off Sundheim and into the center of the field. The Riders capped off their scoring in the 72nd minute when Jess Van Alstyne got a got a goal of her own.

The Riders outshot Hudson 32 to 4 in the game, while Sundheim made 16 saves for Hudson. Two Riders split goalkeeping duties, with Courtney Barry making three saves and Zoe Leary making one. The Riders held a 2 to 1 corner kick advantage, while both teams committed five fouls apiece.

The win allows the Riders to keep within a game of the now first-place Panthers as they sit at 5-1 with three games in the next nine days. Saturday the Riders travel to Catskill before a big showdown at Greenville on Monday, followed by their rematch with Maple Hill the following Saturday.

Hudson fell to 0-5 in the Patroon Conference with a tough slate of four games in the next eight days. The good news for the Bluehawks is that in those next four games they’re home in three of them, including Saturday against Coxsackie-Athens, Monday against Maple Hill, and next Friday against Taconic Hills. Sandwiched in between those home games is at trip to Cairo-Durham on Wednesday.