Men's College Soccer
High Point University 5, Rider University 0
HARISONBURG, VA-The Broncs lost to High Point in the second round of the Comfort Inn Classic, hosted by James Madison. "We were not able to get anything going today," said Rider head coach Russ Fager. "We had some injured players not in the lineup tonight, players who have been key to our attack in the last few weeks of practice. Without them today, we had no attack."
For Rider, freshman William Knight (Wiltshire, England) played all 90 minutes. "Will back in the back did a very good job," Fager said. "He played very strong, very steady."
Junior Jonathan Burd (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick) played 84 minutes for the Broncs. "I thought JB did a very nice job as well," Fager said. "He was very strong in the middle."
Burd started the final 12 games of the 2008 season and the first two games of the 2009 season before a knee injury ended his season last year. "He did a very good job defending today," Fager added. "He did a very good job winning balls."
The Panthers (2-1) took a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute of the game and led 1-0 at the half. "They had one shot in the first 15 minutes and scored a goal," Fager said.
High Point went up 2-0 1:24 into the second half and took a 3-0 lead two minutes later. "They were very fortunate on those two goals," Fager said. "Both goals were preventable. That is a problem right now."
High Point made it 4-0 in the 70th minute and 5-0 in the 74th minute. Five different players scored for the Panthers. "They were able to exploit us," Fager said. "Basically, today was about losing the ball and running after it."
Rider (0-3) sophomore goalkeeper Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick) made three saves in 57 minutes, allowing three goals.
Sophomore Jason Giordano (Massapequa Park, N.Y./Massapequa) played the final 33 minutes in the Rider net.
High Point out-shot Rider 20-6, including 8-1 in the first half. High Point had seven corner kicks to Rider's five.
The Broncs host Mount St. Mary's September 14. "We are looking forward to getting home and putting some things together," Fager said. "We have to get our bodies healthy and our key people ready to step on the field of play. This was a game where we were looking for people to step up and take the place of our injured players, and no one really stepped up."
-ru-
