Men's College Soccer
Fairfield University 3, Rider University 0
FAIRFIELD, CT-The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Fairfield Friday night. "We played a horrible first half," said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso. "We lacked passion and that's unacceptable. I felt we let ourselves down tonight."
Reco McLaren scored all three goals for the Stags.
Fairfield (6-6-1, 2-2 MAAC) scored in the 14th minute of play and made it 2-0 in the eighth minute of the second half. "The second goal was a brilliant shot from at least 30 yards out,' Inverso said.
The defending MAAC Champions scored again with less than 10 minutes to play.
Fairfield out-shot Rider (3-10-1, 2-2-1 MAAC) 15-3 in the rain on the grass field. "It was a soft field and we were having trouble with it," Inverso said.
Rider senior goalkeeper Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick) made six saves.
"I thought the second half we came out really well," Inverso said, "but when you are pressing to get a goal you leave yourself open for counters," Inverso said.
Rider lost in overtime to Fairfield (3-2) last season in Lawrenceville. The last time Rider visited Fairfield the Broncs lost 1-0 in the season finale. Rider and Fairfield have now met 20 times since the series began in 1996 with Rider winning five, the last Bronc win coming in 2004.
Rider travels to Iona Sunday for a 1pm MAAC contest. "We're in the thick of the race for the playoffs," Inverso said, "but we can't waste 45 minutes like we did tonight. If we play the way we played in the second half we're going to be in games."
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