Men's College Soccer
Marist College 2, Rider University 0
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—The Red Foxes scored two goals in the final 18 minutes of the game for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory over Rider Sunday.
Marist broke the scoreless tie in the 73rd minute of play. With 7:10 remaining Marist scored on a penalty kick to make it 2-0.
“Just before the 'PK' we switched from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3, moving (junior Andrew) Cotes (Selden, N.Y./Newfield) from an outside back up front and within a minute he had a great shot that went about a foot wide of the far post that could have tied the game and it would have been a ballgame again,” Fager said. “They were not able to handle our 3-4-3, we got a lot of the possession, a lot of shots, we just couldn't finish.”
Rider (4-9, 1-4 MAAC) out-shot Marist (7-6-2, 3-2-1 MAAC) 17-15, including 10-7 in the first half. “After the first few minutes we began to take more control of the game,” Fager said. “We had some chances to score. The guys did a good job knocking the ball around, getting into good spots.”
Rider freshman goalkeeper Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick) made seven saves. “The first four or five minutes was all Marist,” Fager said. “They had some great shots but Perrella made some absolutely phenomenal saves. He played great and kept us in the game.”
Freshman Dan Friga (Clifton, N.J./Passaic County Tech) had four of Rider's shots and two of Rider's seven shots on goal. “Cotes and (junior Jim) Bradley (Washington Twp., N.J./Washington Township) had great games today, along with Perrella,” Fager said. “Cotes was marking an All-MAAC forward most of the day and shut him down, and then we moved him up front and he gave us our best scoring chance.”
Rider defeated Marist 2-1 last season in Lawrenceville. The Broncs and Red Foxes have been conference rivals since Rider joined the Northeast Conference in 1992, and both teams joined the MAAC in 1997. Rider and Marist have now met 19 times since 1992 with Rider winning nine and there was one tie.
Rider returns home next weekend to host Fairfield on Friday at 3pm. “It will be good to be home but this is usually one of the toughest weekends of the season because of who we play,” Fager said. Rider hosts Iona Sunday on Senior Day.
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