Men's College Soccer
Marist College 3, Rider University 0
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY-The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Marist Friday evening. "I was pretty impressed with Marist," said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso. "I thought they played good soccer and had some good players."
Marist (7-6-4, 3-4-1 MAAC) scored the only goal it needed mid-way through the first half on a header off of a 40-yard free kick. "That was probably a goal we should not have given up," Inverso said.
The Red Foxes made it 2-0 9:37 into the second half and scored the final goal on a penalty kick with 13 minutes remaining. "On the second goal they caught us on a counter attack," Inverso said.
Marist out-shot Rider (3-12-1, 2-6 MAAC) 15-12, including 5-3 in shots on goal. "It was pretty even from 18 to 18," Inverso said, "but inside the boxes they took advantage of their chances and we didn't. We had three golden opportunities and didn't put them away. That's pretty much how the game went."
Rider junior goalkeeper Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick) made two saves.
The Broncs lost 3-1 to Marist last year in Lawrenceville. The last time Rider visited Poughkeepsie Marist won 2-0.
The last time Rider defeated Marist was 2008. "We're not going to beat too many teams when we can't score goals," Inverso said.
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 21 times since 1992 with Rider winning nine and there was one tie.
Rider travels to Siena for the regular season finale Sunday. "We always go into a game thinking we can win and Sunday will be no different," Inverso said. "We want to end the regular season on a positive note and build something for the postseason."
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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