Box Score Men's College Soccer
Rider University 2, Temple University 0
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ— There have been classic battles of unbeaten opponents over the years. Forty-five years ago it was 26-0 Joe Frazier defeating 31-0 Muhammad Ali in the 15th round at Madison Square Garden for the heavyweight championship. Just three years ago 39-0 UConn defeated 37-0 Notre Dame for the women's NCAA basketball Championship.
And on Saturday night, even though there was no championship on the line, the undefeated Broncs played like champions, defeating the second ranked team in the East Region, previously unbeaten Temple.
“Temple had been beating up some pretty good teams,” said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso. “Like Temple we are an attacking-minded team but we gave a good defensive effort tonight.”
The Broncs scored two second half goals to defeat Temple Saturday night in front of over 1,000 fans in the 2016 season home opener at Ben Cohen Field.
For Rider (4-0), senior Rob Nardiello (Torquay, England) took a cross from senior Christian Flath (Bargeshagen, Germany) and scored on a header to give Rider a 1-0 lead 9:05 into the second half.
The Broncs got an insurance goal in the 63rd minute when the Temple keeper and a Rider player collided and the ball rebounded out. Rider senior Adrien Huss (Madrid, Spain) picked up the loose ball and fired from 25 yards out into the empty net, while the Temple keeper was still down from the collision.
Temple (4-1) out-shot Rider 20-11.
Rider senior goalkeeper Ryan Baird (Plainfield, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) made seven saves, including a save on a penalty kick with 23 minutes left to play. “Ryan has been really steady,” Inverso said. “The save on the penalty kick was huge, just when Temple was building some momentum. I've seen 2-0 leads dissipate quickly too many times.”
It marked the third time in his Rider career that Baird has stopped a PK. “I was able to stop a couple of them last year,” said Baird, who has only allowed one goal this season, and it was on a PK. “Tonight's was very similar to the two last year. I had a good idea he was going to go that way and I went with my instincts and it turned out well.”
Rider entered the game ranked 25th in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer.com and received votes in the NSCAA Top 25, after winning the first three games of the season on the road. The Broncs are ranked second in the Northeast Region.
Temple received votes in both the TopDrawerSoccer.com and the NSCAA polls and is ranked second in the East Region. “Temple is a very good team,” Baird said, “so we knew we had to come out and show them how we play and set the tone from the beginning.”
Rider has not been 4-0 since the 1940 season when the Broncs finished 9-0. “That shows how hard it is to start 4-0,” Inverso said. “We don't pay too much attention to that stuff. Things can go south really quick if you stop doing the little things. Tonight, like the last three games, we did those little things.”
Last season Rider lost 3-1 at Temple. The two teams, former East Coast Conference and Mid-Atlantic Conference rivals, have now met 36 times since the series began in 1961, with the Owls holding a 28-6-2 advantage in the series. The last time Rider defeated Temple was during the 2000 season.
Rider travels to cross-town rival Princeton Tuesday evening for a 7pm contest.
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