Box Score Men's College Soccer
Rider University 4, Saint Peter's University 0
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—It was raining so hard some thought they would see the Skyfall. Because of the rain there was no video streaming, so for the fans in attendance, the game was For Your Eyes Only. With the win Rider is now 5-1 at home, so you could say that Nobody Does It Better at home than the Broncs. The scoring was relentless, with a Live and Let Die attitude.
As the Broncs defeated Saint Peter's in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Wednesday night, Rider was led by Bond, Zach Bond.
Rider sophomore Zach Bond (Holmdel, NJ) scored his first collegiate hat trick to lead the Broncs (7-5-2, 4-3 MAAC). Bond scored three goals in his first 13 games and three more Wednesday. “It was a good day,” Bond said.
Saint Peter's (3-11, 1-5 MAAC) out-shot Rider 18-8, but the Broncs made the most of their opportunities.
Now Rider looks like it will have an opportunity for post-season play. “I told the guys to just keep winning and things will work their way out,” said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso. “We're feeling good with four conference wins, and how we played tonight. This was a tough, competitive team we played tonight.”
“We had one goal in mind, to win this game,” Bond said. “We've been working really hard.”
Bond took a shot that was saved but gathered his own rebound and scored to give Rider a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute of play. “The first one was a big one,” Inverso said. “After that Saint Peter's had to chase the game a little bit. When they are chasing they leave gaps, and Bond found some gaps tonight. He is so quick, he gets inside guys.”
“I hit it with my left (foot) and the keeper made a good save,” Bond remembered, “but it came back to me so I put it in the back of the net.”
Rider first year junior Florian Valot (Monaco, France) scored his sixth goal of the season after a long pass from junior Sonimi Halliday (Sicklerville, NJ/Timber Creek) to give the Broncs a 2-0 lead mid-way through the first half. “Sonimi found Flo with a great ball and Flo tucked it in,” Inverso said.
Bond took a pass from sophomore Adrien Huss (Madrid, Spain) and scored for the 3-0 lead with 32 minutes left to play and got the hat trick just two minutes later on a pass from freshman Jose Aguinaga (Madrid, Spain). “Jose put a really good ball out front and I saw the keeper was off line so I just put it over him,” Bond said.
Rider sophomore goalkeeper David Pastuna (Robbinsville, NJ) made four saves in 78 minutes of work. Pastuna has allowed just one goal in his last three games and was named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Week last week.
Rider and Saint Peter's tied 1-1 last season in Jersey City and the Peacocks won 2-0 the last time they were here in Lawrenceville. Rider holds a 22-11-2 advantage in the series that began in 1960.
Since MAAC members Rider, Saint Peter's and Monmouth are all about an hour from each other, the three-way rivalry between them is called the hOURglass Rivalry, with the emphasis on OUR, as in this is OUR Rivalry.
Rider hosts Siena Saturday at 1pm in the final home game of the regular season. “We like Ben Cohen,” Inverso said of his home field. “We've been tough at home this year, but Siena is always a good team.”
Rider's graduating seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony. “We'll be playing for all of our seniors that day,” Inverso said.
Nobody Does It Better.
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