Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Rider Broncs (1-5-1, 0-0-0 MAAC) vs. Iona Gaels (4-2-1, 0-0-0 MAAC)
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ – Ben Cohen Field
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Live Video – BroncVision
Live Stats – GoBroncs.com
 
What You Need To Know
- Rider opens league play on Wednesday night, when it welcomes Iona.
- Rider has won the last three against Iona to cut the Gaels' lead in the all-time series to 10-9-1.
- The Broncs have lost three-straight games for the first time since 2014 with losses to Lehigh, LIU Brooklyn and Princeton.
- 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).
- The assist gives Otmani 60 points for his Rider career.
- Sophomore goalkeeper Pablo Gatinois (Madrid, Spain/Lycee Francais de Madrid [Oregon State]) 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 (Madrid, Spain/La Salle Sagrado Corazon) and Borja Ares Ortiz (Entrambasaguas, Cantabria, Spain/Universidad Europea del Atlantico) each made their Rider debuts against FDU.  
- Iona has won three of its last four, with wins at home against St. Francis Brooklyn, Fairleigh Dickinson and Sacred Heart.
- Killian Colombie leads Iona with three goals and an assist, while Najim Romero and Mauro Bravo both have two goals and an assist. Rory Head has scored twice, while Samuel Saenz and Anthony Gomez pace the team with two assists apiece.  
- Juan Alcantara has seen the majority of time in net for the Gaels, posting a 1.33 goals-against average and a .741 saves percentage. Giuliano Santucci has also been successful in a pair of starts, posting a 1.00 GAA and .833 saves percentage.   
- 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.