Saturday, August 30, 2019
Rider Broncs (0-0-0) vs. Connecticut Huskies (0-0-0)
Location: West Hartford, CT – Al-Marzook Field (Univ. of Hartford)
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Live Video – UConnHuskies.com
Live Stats – UConnHuskies.com
 
What You Need To Know
- The Broncs and Huskies will meet for the first time in the two programs' histories. UConn advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago before falling to then-nationally-ranked No. 1 and second-seeded Indiana.
- Rider was picked third in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
- Rider advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in the last four years a season ago, pushing eventual national runner-up Akron in a tie game through 83 minutes, before falling, 3-1, in the First Round.
- UConn was picked to finish third in the American Athletic Conference this season, while Robin Lapert was voted Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Lapert, Dayonn Harris and Felix Metzler were Preseason All-AAC picks. Lapert and Metzler played pivotal roles on a defense that had five shutouts a year ago, while Harris contributed five goals and seven assists a year ago.
- The Broncs were 5-9-1 (4-4-0 MAAC) through 15 games last season before winning their final two games in the regular season and three MAAC Championship games – all five by shutout – to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
- The Broncs have reached the MAAC Championship Game in each of the last four years, becoming just the third program in MAAC history to make four-straight MAAC Championship Game appearances. Rider joined Loyola (1989-97, no longer in MAAC) and Fairfield (1998-2002).
- Rider's seven shutouts last season tied the program single-season record, both as a team and individually for then-sophomore goalkeeper Pablo Gatinois. The 1997 and 2015 teams also had seven shutouts each. Gatinois tied Keith Richardson's individual record set in 1997 with seven clean sheets.
- Rider became the first team in MAAC Championship history to win three true road games in the tournament en route to the title last season. The tournament moved first from a four-team field held at one site to six teams in 2014 with the quarterfinals at the higher seed and the semifinals and finals at the top seed. Beginning in 2017, all games were hosted by the higher seed.      
- Rider's biggest loss from a season ago is Elliott Otmani, who became the third Bronc in program history with 30 career goals and 20 assists. Otmani joined an exclusive club, consisting of Rider's all-time leading scorer, Craig Wicken '99 (49 goals, 24 assists), and 1972 All-American Bobby Smith '72 (46 goals, 20 assists). He finished tied for seventh all-time in goals with Anselmo Bryan '90 and alone in sixth with 22 assists, two behind Wicken, Mike Stasiulaitis '94 and Len Matysek '62 (24 each) in a tie for third in Rider history. Otmani was a four-time MAAC All-Championship Team selection and two-time MAAC Championship MVP.
- The Broncs return nine starters from last year's team, including leading scorer Pablo DeCastro (9 goals), who scored the game-winner in the MAAC Championship Game at Quinnipiac. Clement Bourret, Emmanuel Kouma and Taner Bay were also tied for second on the team with three assists. Sylvain Coco (3 goals, 1 assist), Bourret (2 goals), Arthur Herpreck (2 goals), Mathis Catanzaro (1 goal, 2 assists) and Sergio Aguinaga (2 assists) also return after contributing offensively last year.
- Gatinois started all 17 games he played in 2018, registering a 0.72 goals-against average, .818 saves percentage and seven shutouts.
- Rider returns three All-MAAC selections from a year ago in Second Teamers Coco, Herpreck and Kouma. Coco was also named to the Preseason All-MAAC Team.