Men's College Soccer
Fairfield University 1, Rider University 0
FAIRFIELD, CT-The 2010 Rider soccer season came to an end Sunday with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference loss at Fairfield. "We played very, very well," said Rider head coach Russ Fager. "We played a good team and we played them very well."
The host Stags (6-7-5, 5-4 MAAC) scored on a penalty kick with less than five minutes left in the game. "Well, the referee called a PK," Fager said, "but it wasn't a PK. They gave them a bogus call. Pure bogus."
It marked the second time in five games that the Broncs (2-15-1, 1-7-1 MAAC) lost a 1-0 game on the road on a PK in the final minutes of the game. Rider also lost 1-0 at Canisius on a PK in the final minutes.
"What happened was there was a lot of activity around the goal," Fager explained. "The ball was played into the box. It got batted around and went outside the box. Our defender and their forward fought for the ball outside the box and their defender fell inside the box, while our defender was outside the box. They called a foul and a penalty kick, even though it was a yard and a half outside the box."
Fairfield out-shot Rider 12-5, including 6-3 in shots on goal. Fairfield had five corner kicks to Rider's 0. "It was about an even a game as you can get," Fager said.
Rider sophomore goalkeeper Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick) made five saves. "Matt played very well," Fager said. "He didn't have a whole lot to do today. We didn't give them a whole lot of chances but the chances they did get Matt was spot on. He made good decisions the entire game."
Junior Jonathan Burd (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick) and sophomore Dan Friga (Clifton, N.J./Passaic County Tech) each had two of Rider's shots.
"Jonathan Burd had a great game," Fager said. "He could have had a goal or two. He got behind their defenders twice."
Rider lost 5-1 to Fairfield last season. The last time Rider visited Fairfield the Broncs lost 2-1. Rider and Fairfield have now met 18 times since the series began in 1996 with Rider winning five, the last Bronc win coming in 2004.
The game was the final collegiate contest for senior Andrew Cotes (Selden, N.Y./Newfield), senior Jim Bradley (Washington Twp., N.J./Washington Township) and senior Alex Baker (Manalapan, N.J./Manalapan).
"Bradley played well," Fager said. "It was a very undeserving way to end the season."
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