Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Rider Broncs (8-3-4, 5-2-2 MAAC) vs. Saint Peter's Peacocks (2-8-5, 1-5-3 MAAC)
Location: Lawrenceville, NJ – Ben Cohen Field
Kickoff: 7 p.m.
Live Video: BroncVision
Live Stats: GoBroncs.com

What You Need To Know
- The Rider University men's soccer team concludes the regular season Wednesday night, when it plays host to Saint Peter's on Senior Night.
- Prior to the match, the Broncs will honor their eight seniors – Babacar Diene, Zaki Alibou, David Ogbonna, Brendan Fischer, Justin Ruffino, Sebastian Rojek, Ethan Shaw and Adel Al Masude.
- With wins in each of their last three matches and points in each of their last four, the Broncs have clinched at least the No. 4 seed in the MAAC Championships and a quarterfinal home game on Sunday.
- Rider would need a win and a Manhattan loss to league-leading Iona Wednesday afternoon to move into the No. 3 position in the MAAC Championship field. The Gaels (24 points) and Siena (21 points) have clinched their positioning ahead of the Broncs (17 points) in the standings, while Marist (14 points) could tie the Broncs, but would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker.
- Rider earned three-straight wins over Niagara and on the road at Mount St. Mary's and Marist to rise up the standings. Babacar Diene has two goals, including the game winner at Mount St. Mary's, and an assist in the stretch to lead Rider. All three wins have come by one-goal margins.
- The 2023 season has seen its ebbs and flows for the Broncs. Following a season-opening setback at Seton Hall, the Broncs reeled off eight-straight games unbeaten, posting a 5-0-3 mark. Rider went winless in its next three, including losses to Manhattan and Iona, before turning it back around with three-straight wins over Niagara, Mount St. Mary's and Marist.
- The Broncs are in their first year under Head Coach Chad Duernberger. Duernberger comes to Rider following five seasons as an assistant at Dartmouth. He replaces Charlie Inverso, who retired following 12 seasons at the helm, leading the Broncs to three MAAC Championships. Just seven matches into Duernberger's first year, the Broncs eclipsed their win total from 2022.
- First-year goalkeeper Adam Salama has posted a 1.07 goals-against average and a .750 saves percentage in playing all but one match so far this season. He's made 45 saves. He's earned MAAC Defensive Player of the Week three times, the latest coming on Oct. 30, after allowing just one goal in a pair of wins at Mount St. Mary's and Marist.
- Diesel Fiore earned the shutout victory in his Rider debut on Oct. 21, making two saves to maintain the clean sheet against Niagara.
- Rider maintains its 24-14-3 lead in the all-time series with Saint Peter's. However, the Broncs have not defeated the Peacocks since 2017. The two teams have played to ties in each of the last two seasons, while Saint Peter's won the prior to matches in 2018 and 2019.
- Saint Peter's has lost its last two to Canisius and Fairfield. The Peacocks' lone win in MAAC play came against Mount St. Mary's, while Saint Peter's played Niagara, Manhattan and Quinnipiac to ties.
- Daniel Larssen leads Saint Peter's with three goals and seven points on the year. Reiss Skeen, Tim Strele, Mikkel Fodstad and Conlan Paventi have scored twice each, while Lex Vaughan has a team-high three assists.
- Pedro Alves has seen every minute in net for the Peacocks this season, posting a 1.87 goals-against average and a .774 saves percentage. He has one shutout.  
- Ethan Shaw scored his third goal of the year in a 2-0 win over Fairfield on Sept. 24. Babacar Diene also scored in a 1-1 tie at Quinnipiac on Sept. 30 to tie him with Shaw for the team lead. Diene went on to score twice in a 5-3 loss to Iona to take the team lead with five goals and has extended his total to seven with goals against Mount St. Mary's and Marist.
- Adel Al Masude pulled into a tie for second on the team with Shaw with his third goal of the season in a 2-2 tie at Canisius. He then took over sole possession of second with the game winner against Niagara on Oct. 21. Luke Kirilenko also scored his second goal of the season against the Griffs.
- Saad Chaouki scored his first goal as a Bronc on Sept. 24 against Fairfield. Adam Salama's punt found Diene's head in the midfield and Diene played in to Chaouki in stride for a 1-v-1 opportunity.
- Chaouki earned his team-leading fourth assist of the season at Canisius, playing David Ogbonna wide before Ogbonna's cross found Al Masude in front. The assist was the first of Ogbonna's collegiate career. Chaouki later pushed his assist total to five, helping set up Diene's game winner at Mount St. Mary's.
- For his effort in consecutive clean sheets against Penn and Siena, Adam Salama was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 18. Salama made it consecutive honors on Sept. 25 following a 3-1 win over La Salle on Sept. 19 and a 2-0 win over Fairfield on Sept. 24.
- Six different Broncs figured in the scoring in Rider's 3-1 win over La Salle. Martin Chladek, Babacar Diene and Justin Ruffino scored goals off assists from Ethan Gregory, Zaki Alibou and Dylan Kotch as the Broncs battled back from down, 1-0, and a 1-1 tie at the half to earn the 3-1 win.
- Luke Kirilenko scored his first collegiate goal, the game-winner, in the 64^th minute of a 1-0 win over Siena on Sept. 16. Jack McGeechan and Momo Diop assisted on the play.
- Both of Ethan Shaw's goals in the 2-1 win at Sacred Heart came off Saad Chaouki assists. For their efforts, Shaw and Chaouki were named MAAC Offensive Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively on Sept. 11.
- Adel Al Masude scored the equalizer at NJIT.
- Diene and Sebastian Rojek also netted goals in the Broncs' 2-0 win over Saint Joseph's.
- Rider also returns 2021 MAAC Offensive Player of the Year Zaki Alibou following an injury-riddled 2022 campaign that saw him play just 87 minutes in two games due to injury. In 2021, he led the Broncs with 10 goals and five assists, helping Rider to the MAAC Final.
- Al Masude leads a group of four returning starters, along with Diene, Jack McGeechan and Tom Skrocki. Al Masude tied for the team lead with Lenny Cidolit at three goals and four assists last season. Diene also tied for the team lead with three goals last season, while McGeechan contributed three assists.
- The Broncs entered a period of transition in goal, with Ben Collins being the only returner to see action in net for Rider (three games off the bench in 2022) entering the season. Diesel Fiore was also on the roster last season, while Salama entered competition following a season at Ottawa University, an NAIA school in Arizona.
- Rider was picked eighth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll.
- The Broncs qualified for the MAAC Championships in nine-straight seasons before missing the field in 2022. Rider won MAAC Championships in 1997, 1998, 2015, 2016 and 2018, while finishing as runner up in 2004, 2017 and 2021.