Box Score Men's College Soccer
Rider University 3, La Salle University 0
PHILADELPHIA, PA—The duty of a police officer day in and day out is to serve and protect. The duty of senior Christian Flath Friday night was to serve and assist.
Rider senior Christian Flath (Bargeshagen, Germany) served two corner kicks into the box for a pair to score their first collegiate goals to lead Rider to victory at undefeated La Salle Friday night.
“That is obviously his forte,” said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso, the 2015 Northeast Region Coach of the Year. “But he is so much more than that. I thought he was pretty sharp tonight.”
Flath, a three-time All-MAAC selection, now has 66 career points (24 goals, 18 assists) in 53 career games.
Rider (2-0) freshman Aaron Robinson (Lancaster, PA/Conestoga Valley) scored his first collegiate goal on a corner kick from Flath to give Rider a 2-0 lead in the 63rd minute of play. “Aaron has been doing some nice things in practice and the second goal tonight was huge,” Inverso said. “He's the kind of player we like to get here. Thank God he wasn't heavily recruited but we saw something in him.”
Rider sophomore transfer Arthur Herpreck (Brest, France/West Brittany) scored his first collegiate goal on a corner kick from Flath to give Rider a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute of play. “Arthur had a nice one,” Inverso said. “He doesn't look like a first-year player out there.”
A La Salle (2-1) defender put the ball into his own net for an own goal for the final score with 20 minutes left to play. “Nardiello (senior Rob Nardiello of Torquay, England) played the ball across and created that goal,” Inverso said. “His ball hit off their defender and went in. It was a good play by him.”
Rider senior goalkeeper Ryan Baird (Plainfield, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) made three saves for the shutout. “Ryan was solid but he wasn't really tested all that much but every play he had to make he made.”
Baird now has a career record of 13-4 in the Rider nets with six shutouts.
Rider out-shot La Salle 13-7, including 6-3 in shots on goal. “We had almost all of the flow of the game but it was one of those games where you just didn't know if you were going to be able to break through and score,” Inverso said.
The Explorers began the season with a pair of 1-0 wins over Loyola and Drexel. “They came in unbeaten having beat two pretty good teams,” Inverso said. “We were mentally prepared tonight. When we are ready to play we can be a good team.”
Rider lost 2-1 to La Salle last season. That was the first time these two former East Coast Conference rivals met since the 2007 season. Rider and La Salle have now met 21 times since the series began in 1966 with the Explorers holding an 11-9-1 advantage.
Rider, ranked second in the Northeast Region, plays at NJIT Tuesday. “Another tough place to play,” Inverso said, “and another test of our mentality. Are we going to be ready to play?”
Chances are Flath will be ready, to serve and assist.
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