NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Senior Jose Aguinaga (Madrid, Spain) finished a cross from his brother, Sergio Aguinaga (Madrid, Spain), for the game-winning goal in the Rider University men's soccer team's 2-1 win at Iona Wednesday afternoon. With the win, the Broncs (11-3-1, 6-1-1 MAAC) clinched a berth in the MAAC Championships. Iona falls to 5-6-3 (4-4-1 MAAC) with the loss.
 
The Broncs opened the scoring in the 38^th minute, when Santiago Garcia Castro (Philadelphia, PA/Prep Charter) served the ball into the box to Pablo DeCastro (Madrid, Spain), who headed it low past Iona goalkeeper Juan Alcantara for the 1-0 lead.
 
The Gaels equalized on a Joshua Calderon header off a Luis Mendoza corner in the 57^th minute. But the Broncs would get the game-winner from the Aguinaga brothers less than 20 minutes later. Sergio lofted a cross from outside the top, right corner of the 18-yard box that found the feet of Jose at the left post. Jose then went low inside the right post to beat Alcantara.

Quotes and Notes
"Just a really gutsy effort on our guys' part. Have to credit Chase Ealy, (Andrew Crawford), (Aaron) Gabriel - they all came in and played major minutes and did a great job. We weren't particularly sharp today, but we found a way to win on the road. Just really proud of these guys. We won this for the Pratico family. That was our dedication of the game. To Nicky and to Coach Mark and his family. May they find some peace in all of this."
 
"Now we expect to qualify. It shows you how far we've come. I do remember four years ago when Ryan Walsh scored the game-winner that helped us qualify up at Marist. We celebrated like we were in the Canyon of Heroes. Now, it's a good sign that we expect to qualify for the tournament. But we're certainly humbled and take nothing for granted." – Rider Head Coach Charlie Inverso
 
- The Broncs have now won three-straight games against Iona to narrow the Gaels' all-time series lead to 10-9-1.
- The Broncs entered the game ranked No. 26 nationally in the College Soccer News National Poll and receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches National Poll.
- Rider has now won six road games in each of the last three years.
- 11 of Rider's 15 games this season have been decided by one goal or less, including each of the last five.
 
Broncs By The Numbers
- DeCastro's goal pulled him to within one tally of Elliott Otmani's (La Ciotat, France/Bonaparte) team-leading figure of eight.
- Jose Aguinaga registered his third goal of the year. All three have come in MAAC play and two have come in the last four games for game-winners.
- Garcia Castro's assist signified his first point in the Cranberry & White.
- Sergio Aguinaga's assist was his second of the season and the first connecting with his brother.  
- Broncs goalkeeper David Pastuna (Robbinsville, NJ/Robbinsville) made three saves in the victory.
- Iona took a 13-8 edge in shots, including a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal.
- Iona took nine corner kicks to the Broncs' five.