Box Score Men's College Soccer
Rider University 3, Fairfield University 0
FAIRFIELD, CT—The red-hot Rider Broncs won at Fairfield in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Saturday evening. “It was a really good effort,” said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso. “A really good win.”
The Broncs (10-4-1, 5-2-1) are 5-0-1 in their last six games. “I don't think we've lost in October,” Inverso said. “That's a good time to start getting hot.”
The ten wins this year is the most for Rider since the 2000 team finished 10-10.
Rider finishes the regular season 6-2 on the road. “That was one of our goals,” Inverso said. “We wanted to be better on the road. That's a good sign.”
The last time Rider won six road games was 1997, when the 15-5-1 Broncs won eight games on the road. The eighth road win that year was a victory over Atlantic-10 Champion Dayton in the NCAA Play-In Game.
For Rider on Saturday night, junior Christian Flath (Bargeshagen, Germany) scored two goals. “Christian is at about 70 percent (healthy),” Inverso said. “He only played about 30 minutes tonight.”
Junior defender Rob Nardiello (Torquay, England) had two assists, the second consecutive game that Nardiello assisted on the game-winning goal. “He'll be sure to remind you of that,” Inverso said with a laugh. “When we got Rob we knew he was a back who liked to get forward and attack. The goal he set up with Veltri was a beauty.”
Senior Justin Veltri (Mays Landing, NJ/Oakcrest) scored his fourth goal of the season on an assist from Nardiello to give Rider a 1-0 lead mid-way through the first half.
Flath scored on another assist from Nardiello for a 2-0 lead just 2:20 into the second half. Flath made it 3-0 on a PK in the 55th minute. Flath is now nine for nine in penalty kicks in his Rider career.
Flath has seven goals and 18 points in 11 games this season.
Fairfield (4-5-6, 3-3-2 MAAC) came into the game 3-1-2 in its last six games. Fairfield allowed just three goals in its first seven conference games before allowing three to Rider.
Fairfield out-shot Rider 9-7.
Rider senior goalkeeper Ryan Baird (Plainfield, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) made five saves for the shutout, his third of the season. “Baird was great,” Inverso said. “He made a good save on a free kick in the first half and when we were up 1-0 he made a point blank save from about six yards out. It was stunning. A really good save. That was one of the turning points of the game.”
Baird is 7-1 in the Rider net this year. “We are happy with all of our goalkeepers but Baird has been pretty sharp lately,” Inverso said.
This was the 24th meeting with Fairfield and Rider has won just seven. Rider lost 1-0 to Fairfield in the first round of the MAAC playoffs last season. “This was a nice win after last year's disappointment,” Inverso said.
The Broncs beat Fairfield 3-0 at Rider last year during the regular season. Last year's win was Rider's first over Fairfield since 2004. “We've had some tough outings up here,” Inverso said. “This is not an easy place to play. Fairfield is always among the top teams in the conference.”
Rider is home Wednesday, hosting Canisius at 2pm. “We'll enjoy this one for a day and then get started getting ready for Canisius,” Inverso said.
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