Saturday, October 27, 2018
Rider Broncs (5-9-1, 4-4-0 MAAC) vs. Siena Saints (4-9-3, 3-5-0 MAAC)
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ – Ben Cohen Field
Kickoff: 1 p.m.
Live Video – BroncVision
Live Stats – GoBroncs.com
 
What You Need To Know
- Rider plays its final regular season home game Saturday, when it welcomes Siena to Ben Cohen Field.
- The Broncs are currently tied with Manhattan for sixth place in the MAAC with two games left. Six teams will qualify for the MAAC Championships. The Jaspers have the head-to-head tie-breaker, making the Broncs' final two games against Siena and at Canisius vitally important to their playoff hopes. Rider and Manhattan (12 points each) are looking up at Fairfield (20 points), Quinnipiac (19), Marist (17), Iona (16) and Saint Peter's (16) in the standings.
- The Broncs opened MAAC play with three-straight wins over Iona, Marist and Niagara before suffering three-straight heartbreaking losses on game-winning goals in the last six minutes of regulation or overtime against Manhattan, Fairfield and Quinnipiac. Rider got back in the win column on Oct. 20 with a 2-1 road win at hOURglass rival Monmouth before falling to another in-state foe Saint Peter's, 1-0, on Oct. 24. 
- Siena owns a slim 11-9-5 lead in the all-time series with Rider, including a 2-1 win last Oct. 18 in Loudonville. The Broncs had been unbeaten (4-0-1) in five-straight against Siena prior to the setback, including consecutive MAAC Semifinal meetings in 2015 and 2016.
- After starting the MAAC slate with consecutive wins over Niagara and Monmouth, the Saints had dropped six-straight prior to a 2-0 win over Canisius last time out.
- Aaron Martin (3 goals, 2 assists) and Birgir Thorsteinsson (4 goals) lead the Saints with eight points apiece, while Matt Crisafulli (2 goals, 1 assist) and Linus Johansson (1 goal, 3 assists) have five points each.
- Greg Monroe has started all 16 games in goal for the Saints, posting a 1.61 goals-against average and a .735 saves percentage.  
- Clement Bourret registered his first points of the year with a goal and an assist on Sylvain Coco's game-winning goal on Oct. 20 at Monmouth.
- Elliott Otmani has scored a goal in three of the Broncs' four league wins and has a point in all four. For his career, he now has 28 goals, 17 assists and 73 points. Only seven Broncs have ever scored 30 goals, while only eight have 20 assists.  
- 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 scored seven goals in the next three games.
- After not registering a point in the first 44 games of his collegiate career, Emmanuel Kouma picked up assists in consecutive games against Marist and Niagara on Sept. 29 and Oct. 3.
- 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.
- 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.