Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Rider Broncs (3-5-1, 2-0-0 MAAC) vs. Niagara Purple Eagles (2-8-0, 0-2-0 MAAC)
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ – Ben Cohen Field
Kickoff: 4 p.m.
Live Video – BroncVision
Live Stats – GoBroncs.com
 
What You Need To Know
- Rider looks for its third-straight win to open MAAC play Wednesday afternoon, when it welcomes Niagara to Ben Cohen Field.
- The Broncs have earned wins over Iona (3-1) and at Marist (2-0) to begin the league slate. The Broncs have gone unbeaten through two league games for the third-straight year, including 2-0 starts in each of the last two.
- Rider Head Coach Charlie Inverso earned the 500^th win of his collegiate coaching career on Sept. 29 at Marist. He earned the first 434 victories in his 24-year tenure as Head Coach at Mercer County Community College, before winning 66 games since becoming Head Coach of the Broncs in 2011.
- Elliott Otmani and Pablo Gatinois were named MAAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, on Oct. 1 following the Broncs' wins over Iona and Marist. Otmani scored and assisted in each of the two games, while Gatinois shut out the Red Foxes, including a stop on a penalty kick, and posted a 0.50 goals-against average for the week.
- After scoring just twice through the season's first seven games, Rider has five goals in the last two games.
- Emmanuel Kouma picked up his first-career assist on Otmani's goal at Marist on Sept. 29.
- Otmani's goal and assist at Marist were both his third of the year, both team highs. For his career, he now has 26 goals, 15 assists and 67 points.
- Rider leads the all-time series with Niagara, 11-7-3, including wins in each of the last four meetings.
- Luca Pacheco leads the Purple Eagles with two goals, while five others have one goal each, including Mbongeni Tshuma and Absolom Solorio, who've both added an assist. Matthew Krucko-Moeller is the team's assists leader with two.  
- Graduate student Steve Casey has seen every minute in net for Niagara, posting a 1.76 goals-against average and a .705 saves percentage.    
- The Broncs took a 1-0 win on Sept. 8 at La Salle on Pablo DeCastro's (Madrid, Spain/Universidad Francisco de Vitoria) goal off an assist from Elliott Otmani (La Ciotat, France/Bonaparte).
- Gatinois earned his first start, win and shutout in the 1-0 clean sheet at La Salle. Gatinois made one save. Gatinois also started the Temple and Princeton games, posting a 0.60 goals-against average and a .750 saves percentage.  
- Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Garret Potter started his first three games this season following the graduation of former keeper David Pastuna. Potter made five saves in the three games. He got another start at LIU Brooklyn and made six saves.
- After opening the season with a 1-1 tie against Fairleigh Dickinson on Aug. 24, the Broncs fell to NJIT, 1-0, on a goal in the 88^th minute. Elliott Otmani scored on a PK in the 11^th minute against NJIT. The goal was the 24^th in Otmani's career.
- Potter, Guillermo Pavia Vidal and Borja Ares Ortiz each made their Rider debuts against FDU.  
- The Broncs return nine starters from a team that advanced to the MAAC Championship Game for the third-straight season in 2017.
- Included in the returning cast are a pair of players who accounted for 17 of the Broncs 30 goals a year ago in Elliott Otmani (9 goals, 2 assists) and Pablo DeCastro (8 goals, 3 assists).
- Otmani was named to the prestigious MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, representative of collegiate soccer's top individual honor.
- In addition to Otmani, an Academic All-America First Team honoree, backs Arthur Herpreck and Emmanuel Kouma return after joining Otmani on the All-Region Team.
- Six of Rider's league-high seven All-MAAC selections from a year ago return, including First-Team honorees Otmani, Kouma and Sylvain Coco, Second-Teamers DeCastro and Arthur Herpreck and All-Rookie Team selection Mathis Catanzaro.
- The Broncs' two losses to the starting line-up will not be easy to replace – Second-Team All-American and program assists record-holder Jose Aguinaga, who was drafted 85^th overall by the New York Red Bulls, and goalkeeper David Pastuna, a five-year member of the Broncs who finished his career with 30 wins and 12 shutouts, good for second and third in program history, respectively.   
- Otmani, Coco and Kouma were selected to the Preseason All-MAAC Team.
- The Rider defense limited the opposition to a 0.99 goals-against average in 2017, while the offense produced 1.49 goals per game.
- Rider has won four MAAC Championships in its 21 years in the league, including back-to-back titles in its first two years in the league (1997-98) and 2015-16.