Box Score Men's College Soccer
Rider University 1, Canisius College 1 (2OT)
BUFFALO, NY— Streaks are meant to be broken. Canisius (4-4-1, 0-0-1 MAAC) came into the game on a two-game winning streak. Rider (4-2-1, 0-0-1 MAAC) came into the game on a two-game losing streak.
Rider and Canisius played to a tie in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Saturday night. “It is disappointing,” said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso. “It feels like a loss because we had so many opportunities. We created so many chances and didn't put them away.”
Rider senior Rob Nardiello (Torquay, England) scored to tie the score at 1-1 in the 68th minute of play. Nardiello's header off of a free kick hit the post but he collected the rebound and scored his second goal of the season.
“This team is a resilient group,” Inverso said, “to go down on the road and to come back. Our last three games we were down a goal on the road and came back to tie.”
Canisius scored a header goal off of a corner kick in the 62nd minute to take a 1-0 lead. “I'm disappointed that we gave up a goal on a corner because that is an area we usually dominate,” Inverso said.
Rider out-shot Canisius 21-20, including 8-7 in shots on goal. “We created a lot of chances tonight, enough to win the game,” Inverso said. “We just had a lot of near-misses.”
Rider senior goalkeeper Ryan Baird (Plainfield, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) made six saves. “Ryan came off his line and made some solid plays,” Inverso said.
Canisius won six of the previous eight games with Rider. “We played well enough to win tonight,” Inverso said. “I thought we were pretty passionate.”
Rider lost 5-2 to Canisius last year and lost 4-1 at Canisius in 2014. The last time Rider defeated Canisius was 2013.
Canisius leads the all-time series 11-10-1.
Rider hosts Seton Hall Tuesday night in the final non-conference game of the season. It will be just Rider's second home game of the season. “We played six of our first seven on the road and we have four wins and a tie so that is a positive,” Inverso said. “Seton Hall is a good team. It will be nice to be home.”
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