Thursday, November 9, 2017
#2 Rider Broncs (11-4-2, 6-2-2 MAAC) vs. #3 Canisius Golden Griffins (12-3-4, 5-1-4 MAAC)
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ – Ben Cohen Field
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Live Video – MAAC.tv
Live Stats – GoBroncs.com
Tickets – MAACSports.com ($10 Adult; $5 Student/Child/Senior)
**1^st 100 Rider Undergraduate Students Admitted Free**
 
What You Need To Know
- Rider sat atop the MAAC standings all the way until the final night of the season, when Fairfield overtook the Broncs for the MAAC Regular Season Championship.
- The Broncs have battled through injuries and, with a top two seed and a home semifinal game secured, Rider rested five starters in the season finale at Fairfield.
- Rider has won four MAAC Championships in its 20 years in the league, including back-to-back titles in its first two years in the league (1997-98) and the most recent two years (2015-16).
- The Broncs are 12-7-1 in 20 all-time MAAC Tournament contests covering 11 berths. This year marks the eighth time Rider has been a top four seed, while the remaining four years represented tournaments in which all MAAC programs qualified for the tournament at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex. As a top four seed, Rider is 9-3-1.
- Rider is 1-0 in MAAC Tournament penalty-kick shootouts, with a match going to PK's for the first time last season in the semifinals against Siena. The Broncs advanced past the Saints, 3-1.
- Canisius is an unbeaten 4-0-3 since an Oct. 7 loss at Quinnipiac. They've defeated Iona (MAAC Quarterfinals), Saint Peter's, Monmouth and Marist in that time, while also playing Rider, Iona and Manhattan to draws.
- Canisius has easily the highest-scoring MAAC side with 44 goals this season, including four players with six or more. Filippo Tamburini leads the group at 10 goals, while Troy Brady has added nine. 2017 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Alex Grattarola has also contributed seven goals, while Hunter Walsh has finished six chances. Melvin Blair has also chipped in with four goals and six assists. Bjarki Benediktsson leads the MAAC with 10 assists. Tamburini, Brady, Grattarola and Blair were named to the All-MAAC First Team, while Benediktsson took Second Team honors.
- Though Rider owns a 11-10-2 edge in the all-time series, the Broncs have not won a game since 2013. In fact, the Griffs have a 6-3-2 record against Rider in the last 11 meetings. The two teams have played to a 1-1 tie in each of the last two seasons. 
- The Broncs and Griffs have met once before in the MAAC Championships, with the ninth-seeded Broncs defeating the No. 8 Griffs, 2-1, in the 2011 first round at ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, FL.   
- The Broncs had a MAAC-best seven players named All-League on Nov. 7. The Broncs joined Canisius with a league-high four First Team honorees in Elliott Otmani, Jose Aguinaga, Emmanuel Kouma and Sylvain Coco, while Pablo DeCastro and Arthur Herpreck took Second Team distinction. Mathis Catanzaro also joined Coco and DeCastro on the All-Rookie Team.
- Rider has appeared in the national rankings in each of the last seven weeks. After receiving votes for two weeks, the Broncs cracked both the United Soccer Coaches National Poll and the College Soccer News National Poll, coming in as highly as Nos. 22 and 24, respectively. The Broncs currently are receiving votes in the College Soccer News Top 30.
- 12 of Rider's 17 games this season have been decided by one goal or less.
- Rider has now won six road games in each of the last three years.
- The Broncs are now an unbeaten 7-0-8 in their last 15 overtime contests dating back to the 2014 season. Rider is 4-0-2 in overtime contests this year with wins over Temple (1-0, Sept. 1), LIU Brooklyn (2-1, Sept. 16), Manhattan (1-0, Oct. 11) and Niagara (2-1, Oct. 14) and draws against Canisius (1-1, Oct. 21) and Marist (0-0, Oct. 28). The last time Rider lost in overtime was the 2013 season finale against Quinnipiac.
- David Pastuna was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season and the sixth time in his career on Oct. 30 after leading Rider to a 1-0-1 week with a win over Iona and a scoreless tie against Marist. Pastuna allowed just one goal and made seven saves.
- The Broncs scored a 2-1 victory on Oct. 25 at Iona on the strength of a game-winning connection between the Aguinaga Brothers. Sergio served a ball over the defense and into the box, finding Jose at the left post. The senior Spaniard then sent a low shot across the mouth of goal and inside the right post for the game-winner.
- Rider won consecutive overtime contests in dramatic fashion, Oct. 11 and 14. The Broncs took a 1-0 victory over Manhattan on Pablo DeCastro's header off an Elliott Otmani corner in the 109^th minute. Not to be outdone, Jose Aguinaga buried a free kick with six seconds remaining in the 110^th minute at Niagara.
- Otmani was named MAAC Offensive Player of the Week in consecutive weeks, Oct. 2 and 9. The senior scored a pair of goals against Monmouth, added another against Saint Peter's and scored both of the Broncs' tallies against Quinnipiac. Otmani was also named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week for the week ending Oct. 1. Otmani now leads the Broncs with eight goals and 17 points.
- Earlier this season, Jose Aguinaga became the program's all-time leader in assists and currently has 32 career helpers, passing Todd Moore '98, who'd distributed 26 assists between 1994-97.
- Freshman Mathis Catanzaro was named MAAC Rookie of the Week on Oct. 2 after scoring the game-winning goal against Saint Peter's and totaling three assists in two wins over the Peacocks and Monmouth. Catanzaro became the third different Bronc to earn the honor this year, joining Pablo DeCastro and Sylvain Coco.
- A familiar name and face made his Rider debut off the bench against Villanova. Freshman back Sergio Aguinaga, the younger brother of senior forward Jose Aguinaga, came off the bench and played 31 minutes.  Two games later, he made his first start and contributed an assist in the Broncs' 2-1 win at No. 21 Fairleigh Dickinson.
- Bourret scored the golden goal in the 94^th minute against Temple and had the assist on Sylvain Coco's game-winner against La Salle.
- Coco earned MAAC Rookie of the Week on Sept. 11 for his game-winning goal against La Salle, following DeCastro's turn earning the same honor on Sept. 4 for his game-winner against Seton Hall and assist on Bourret's game-winner at Temple. DeCastro later earned the honor again on Sept. 25 for his game-winning goal at No. 21 Fairleigh Dickinson.
- Pastuna was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 4 after compiling nine saves and allowing just one goal in a pair of wins against Seton Hall and Temple. He repeated the honor on Sept. 25 with three saves in a victory at No. 21 Fairleigh Dickinson.
- The Broncs returned six starters from their second-straight MAAC Championship squad in 2016, including their top three goal scorers from a year ago in Elliott Otmani (6 goals, 8 assists), Jose Aguinaga (5 goals, 9 assists) and Clement Bourret (8 goals, 2 assists).
- A two-time All-MAAC First Team selection and a 2016 NSCAA All-Northeast Region pick, Aguinaga was named 2017 MAAC Preseason Player of the Year.
- Otmani and Bourret joined Aguinaga on the Preseason All-MAAC Team. Otmani was a 2016 All-MAAC Second Team honoree, while Bourret was named to the All-Rookie Team.
- TopDrawerSoccer.com named Aguinaga (#1), Bourret (#4), Otmani (#8) and Arthur Herpreck (#12) among the Top 20 players in the MAAC.
- Arguably the Broncs' biggest loss to graduation was 2017 Second Team All-American Christian Flath. Flath became Rider's fifth All-American of all-time and the first since 1972.