LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Pablo DeCastro (Madrid, Spain) headed in an Elliott Otmani (La Ciotat, France/Bonaparte) corner in the 109^th minute as the nationally-ranked No. 25 Rider University men's soccer team defeated Manhattan, 1-0, in overtime Wednesday night. The match featured the MAAC's lone remaining unbeaten teams, and the Broncs (9-2-0, 4-0-0 MAAC) became the first league foe to score on the Jaspers (7-5-0, 4-1-0 MAAC) defense in five matches against conference opponents. The win was the Broncs' sixth straight.
 
The two teams played almost 109 minutes of physical soccer in rainy conditions. Though Rider created scoring opportunities in regulation, the Broncs put just one shot on goal in the first 90 minutes. The two overtime periods presented a stark contrast to the first 90 minutes, with Rider putting seven shots on Manhattan goalkeeper Marcellin Gohier in less than 19 minutes. Gohier stopped the first six, but he had little chance to stop a driving header from DeCastro from close range at the near post.   
 
Quotes and Notes
 "We have a tendency or a history to not make it easy around here. It was a tough battle, a physical battle. We lost a couple of guys. We overcame it though. Some guys came in off the bench and did a really good job, particularly (Andrew Crawford) and (Santiago Garcia Castro). That's what we look for."
 
"It's nice to pull this one out late like it is. It was a physical contest against a first-place team. They're having a great season and doing a great job over there. I think we kind of played into their style of what they wanted to do and we really didn't get into what we wanted to do until the last 10 minutes of regulation and overtime. But, good win." – Rider Head Coach Charlie Inverso
 
- The Broncs are now an unbeaten 6-0-6 in their last 12 overtime contests dating back to the 2014 season. Rider is 3-0-0 in overtime contests this year with a Sept. 1 victory at Temple and a Sept. 16 result against LIU Brooklyn. The last time Rider lost in overtime was the 2013 season finale against Quinnipiac.
- Over the Broncs' six-game winning streak, they've outscored the opposition, 14-2.
- Rider is now 13-4-5 all-time against Manhattan, including a 9-2-4 mark in the last 15 and an unbeaten streak of five (4-0-1).
- The Broncs were playing their first game since entering the national rankings at No. 25 in the United Soccer Coaches National Poll and No. 30 in the College Soccer News National Poll.
 
Broncs By The Numbers
- DeCastro's goal was his sixth of the year, good for second on the team behind Otmani (seven), who assisted on the tally.
- Otmani registered his first assist of the year and the 11^th of his career.
- Senior goalkeeper David Pastuna (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) and the Broncs defense posted their fourth clean sheet of the year and their second consecutive. Pastuna made four saves and now has 10 shutouts in his Rider career.
- Rider took a 16-8 edge in shots and an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal.  
- Manhattan took eight corner kicks to the Broncs' two.
- A physical and sometimes chippy game, four yellow cards were shown, with three Jaspers being booked and one for Rider.