Box Score Men's College Soccer
Rider University 1, NJIT 0
NEWARK, NJ— September 6 is National Coffee Ice Cream Day in the United States. On September 6, 2016, it took the Rider men's soccer team 45 minutes and 36 seconds to wake up and smell the coffee.
“I don't think we had a very good first half,” said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso, the 2015 Northeast Region Coach of the Year.
In the first 45 minutes of play Rider (3-0), ranked 25th in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer.com, played like it had brain freeze, like it ate ice cream too fast. “We just weren't sharp and we were getting beat to a lot of balls,” Inverso said.
The undefeated Broncs came out in the second half fully recovered from Coffee Ice Cream Day and defeated the previously undefeated Highlanders of The New Jersey Institute of Technology Tuesday afternoon in a game held at the Rutgers-Newark campus.
Rider improves to 3-0 for the first time since 1975. “I was a freshman (goalkeeper) at Trenton State that year and Rider beat me so I don't want to talk about that year,” Inverso joked. “That was a good Rider team in '75.”
Rider freshman Clement Bourret (Paris, France/Lycee Jean Giraudoux) scored 36 seconds into the second half for the only goal of the game on Tuesday.
“We came out with a passion in the second half and scored right away,” Inverso said.
Senior Zach Bond (Holmdel, NJ) took a shot that hit off of an NJIT defender's head before Bourret gathered the ball and scored his first collegiate goal. “It was like a scramble goal,” Inverso said. “Bourret was in the right place and tucked it in. It was a good way to get us started in the second half.”
Rider out-shot NJIT (2-1-1) 10-6, including 4-3 in shots on goal. “We had a lot of the flow in the second half,” Inverso said.
Rider senior goalkeeper Ryan Baird (Plainfield, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) made three saves for the shutout, his second of the season and the seventh in the last two years. “We only broke down (defensively) once and Baird made a tremendous save,” Inverso said. “He had to make a full length dive and caught it about shoulder high. That was a huge part of the game.”
Rider defeated NJIT 2-0 last season in Lawrenceville. The last time Rider traveled to Newark (2014) the Broncs and Highlanders tied 3-3. The last time NJIT defeated Rider was in 2013.
Rider now holds a 4-1-2 advantage in the series that began in 2007. “NJIT is not a bad team,” Inverso said. “Their new coach has got them going.”
The Broncs play their home opener Saturday night at 7pm against Temple on Ben Cohen Field. “We'll take a day off tomorrow and get ready for a really good Temple team.” Inverso said. “I hope we recognize the field.”
There will be no ice cream served at Ben Cohen Field Saturday. Not even coffee flavored.
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