Men's College Soccer
Rider University 2, George Washington University 0
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Broncs lost at George Washington U. Saturday. "We played a little bit better in the second half," said Rider head coach Russ Fager, "but not with the drive and desire you have to play with to get back into a game."
GW (2-7) scored in the ninth minute of play on a rebound after a shot was saved. "They sent a ball over our defenders' head," Fager explained. "A player ran onto it and took a shot that was saved, but no one covered the next guy."
The Colonials made it 2-0 mid-way through the first half. "The second goal was not a whole lot different," Fager said. "We didn't challenge for it."
GW out-shot Rider (1-8) 17-7, but five of the Broncs' seven shots were on goal. "The final 15 minutes we began to put some pressure on and got some quality shots off," Fager said, "and we finally looked dangerous."
Rider sophomore goalkeeper Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick) made six saves."Matt made a great save on the first shot of the game," Fager said, "but no one followed the next player coming in and he put the rebound home. He is shell-shocked right now. Every time he turns around someone makes a mistake and there is a shot on goal. You can't keep making big saves game after game. He's good, he's talented, but he needs help to get the job done."
Sophomore Sam Kotowski (Cranbury, N.J./Princeton) had two of Rider's seven shots.
The Broncs defeated GW 2-1 in D.C. in 2007. GW came to Rider last year and won 3-0, taking a 3-2-1 lead in the series that began in 1989.
"Defensively we were okay but offensively we didn't put anything together," Fager said.
The game was the final non-conference game of the season. The Broncs begin MAAC play Friday with a 7pm home game against Saint Peter's.
"We have to figure out some ways to get some results," Fager said.
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