Men's College Soccer
Canisius College 2, Rider University 1 (ot)
LAWRENCEVILLE-For the third time this season, the Broncs had victory slip away in the final minutes of play. "They just keep getting rougher," said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso.
Rider lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to Canisius Sunday afternoon in the final home game of the season. "We really wanted to win this for the seniors," Inverso said. "We were two minutes away from bringing it home for them."
Canisius (4-11-1, 2-5-1 MAAC) tied the score a 1-1 with 2:40 remaining in the second half on a goal from in close with the scorer's back to the net.
In overtime junior Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick) made his eighth save of the game but the rebound went right to a Golden Griffin and he scored the Golden Goal.
"In sudden death we are going for the win," Inverso said of his overtime strategy. "We changed things up and tried to get more of an attack going. We weren't going to sit back and go for a tie at home. Those things happen."
Rider (3-11-1, 2-5 MAAC) took a 1-0 lead when senior Corey Diamond (East Brunswick/U. of New Hampshire), playing in his final home game, sent a long pass to junior Dan Friga (Clifton, N.J./Passaic County Tech), who scored his team-high fourth goal of the season. It was Friga's ninth career goal.
"We got a lead but things weren't going that well for us," Inverso said. "We were trying to kill the game off."
Canisius out-shot Rider 20-6, including 10-3 in the first half and 3-0 in overtime..
Rider lost 1-0 at Canisius last year. The last time the Griffs came to Lawrenceville they won 3-1.
Rider and Canisius have now met 16 times with Rider winning eight, the last win coming in 2007.
Rider, which would be 4-2-1 in the MAAC this season if games were 87 minutes long, travels to Marist Friday night. "I'm starting to think it is karma from a different life," joked Inverso. "I've never seen anything like this. But it doesn't mean our season is over yet. We believe in ourselves and sooner or later it is going to all come together."
Rider will take part in the 10-team MAAC championship tournament November 3-7 at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World Resorts in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
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