Sunday, November 12, 2023
MAAC Championship Game
#3 Rider Broncs (11-3-4, 6-2-2 MAAC) vs. #1 Iona Gaels (12-3-0, 9-1-0 MAAC)
Location: New Rochelle, NY – Mazzella Field
Kickoff: 12 p.m.
Tickets: MAACSports.com
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Stats: IonaGaels.com

What You Need To Know
- The third-seeded Rider University men's soccer team travels to top-seeded Iona in the MAAC Championship Game Sunday afternoon at noon on ESPN+.
- Tickets are being sold by the MAAC for Sunday's match. Adult tickets are $10, while children under 12, students and seniors (65+) will be admitted for $5. Fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets prior to arrival by visiting the link above.  
- Through Thursday's results, Rider has the third-largest improvement in wins from 2022 (3) to 2023 (11) and fifth-largest improvement in winning percentage (.353 to .722, improvement of .369) in NCAA Division I this season. Bryant's improvement of 12 wins and an increase of .639 in winning percentage leads the nation.
- Rider is playing in the MAAC Championship Game for the ninth time, going 5-2-1 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament five times. The Broncs have now qualified for the MAAC Championships in nine of the last 10 seasons following a one-year hiatus in 2022. Rider won MAAC Championships in 1997, 1998, 2015, 2016 and 2018, while finishing as runner up in 2004, 2017 and 2021. Rider's last MAAC Championship appearance came in 2021, with the Broncs playing top-seeded Marist to a 2-2 draw as the No. 5 seed, before the Red Foxes advanced on PK's.
- Rider is 21-10-3 all-time in the MAAC Championships.
- Rider leads the all-time series with Iona, 15-12-2, including a 9-2-1 mark in the last 12 meetings. Iona took a 5-3 win this past Oct. 11 on Ben Cohen Field. Last year, the two teams played to a scoreless draw in New Rochelle.
- The Broncs and Gaels have met three times in the MAAC Championships, all in the quarterfinals in consecutive seasons from Fall 2018 through Spring 2021. Rider took the first meeting, 2-0, on Mazzella Field in 2018, before the Gaels evened the score in 2019, also on Mazzella Field, 2-1. The Broncs then took a 4-1 win in Spring 2021 in Lawrenceville.
- Rider has enjoyed unique success on Mazzella Field in recent years, going 4-1-1 since 2015. Included in the run was a win in the 2018 MAAC Quarterfinals to snap an eight-game unbeaten streak for the Gaels in New Rochelle. The Gaels are currently on a 10-game winning streak on Mazzella Field dating back to last season and are 12-0-2 in New Rochelle over the last two seasons. Iona's last non-win at home was a scoreless draw against the Broncs on Oct. 5, 2022.
- The Broncs advanced to the MAAC Championship Game with a 2-0 win at second-seeded Siena on Thursday. Rider scored twice in a span of 50 seconds late in the first half, with Zaki Alibou scoring on a rocket off a Siena turnover at 36:21 before assisting on Momo Diop's goal at 37:11.
- The shutout at Siena matched the Broncs' single-season record with seven shutouts. Six of them have come from Adam Salama, with the other being secured by Diesel Fiore. Salama's six shutouts trail only Keith Richardson (1997) and Pablo Gatinois (2018) for the program single-season record.
- Iona took a 1-0 win over fourth-seeded Manhattan on Thursday, with Thiago Cagna scoring off the rebound of a free kick in the 18^th minute. Things got chippy in the end, with each team having a player sent off, including starting Iona back Elird Mero, who will have to serve a suspension in the title match.
- Rider had a program-record eight different All-MAAC honorees this season, with Saad Chaouki, the MAAC Rookie of the Year, being joined on the First Team by Babacar Diene, Momo Diop and Adel Al Masude. Sebastian Rojek took Second Team, while Ethan Shaw, Jack McGeechan and Martin Chladek were selected to the Third Team. Rider had seven different honorees in 2017. 
- Chaouki became Rider's fourth MAAC Rookie of the Year, joining Bob Francis (1998), Christian Flath (2013) and Florian Valot (2014).
- The Broncs are playing some of their best soccer of the season, riding a season-long six-game winning streak. During that time, the Broncs have outscored the opposition, 13-3. Babacar Diene has scored six of the goals, assisted on two more and started the play that resulted in another, but did not receive an assist because Momo Diop was ruled to have evaded a defender.
- Two of the three goals scored by the opposition in the winning streak have come off of late penalty kicks, with the third coming 30 seconds after Salama had stopped a penalty kick on Oct. 28 at Marist.
- 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 six-straight wins over Niagara, Mount St. Mary's, Marist, Saint Peter's, Marist again and Siena.
- The Broncs are in their first year under Head Coach Chad Duernberger. Duernberger came to Rider following five seasons as an assistant at Dartmouth. He replaced 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.
- Iona matched Rider's eight All-MAAC selections, while taking four major awards – Golden Boot (Camil Azzam Ruiz), Defensive Player of the Year (Tim Timchenko), Golden Glove (Nacho Alfaro Monge) and Coach of the Year (James Hamilton). Azzam Ruiz, Timchenko and Alfaro Monge were joined on the First Team by Thiago Cagna and Tim Fillaudeau. Aly Camara, Lans Bovenberg and Sergio Gonzalez Fernandez earned Second Team.
- Azzam Ruiz led the MAAC with 14 goals and 31 points, while Matias Morales has a team-high seven assists. Camara and Cagna have added five and four goals, respectively.
- Alfaro Monge has posted a 0.94 goals-against average and a .764 saves percentage over 14 starts this season. He has three shutouts.  
- First-year Rider goalkeeper Adam Salama has posted a 1.00 goals-against average and a .764 saves percentage in playing all but one match so far this season. He's made 55 saves. He 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.
- Diene scored a highlight-reel goal, rocketing a shot from the corner of the 18-yard box into the opposite upper 90 in the 15^th minute to put Rider up 1-0 in the MAAC Quarterfinals vs. Marist. Diop and Kirilenko would score later in the 3-1 win.
- Diene had a hat trick and added an assist in the Broncs' 4-1 win over Saint Peter's in the regular-season finale. It was the Broncs' first hat trick in more than nine years. The last Bronc to achieve the feat was Zach Bond on Oct. 22, 2014, also against Saint Peter's. The last time a Bronc had as many as seven points in a single game came exactly 21 years prior, when Sandro DeCristofaro had a hat trick and an assist at Iona on Nov. 1, 2002.
- Diene now has a team-high 11 goals and 25 points. The 25 points match Zaki Alibou (10 goals, 5 assists) for most by a Bronc since Craig Wicken had 45 points in 1998 (18 goals, 9 assists). Diene's 11 goals are most by a Bronc since Wicken's 18 goals in 1998.
- Ethan Shaw scored his third goal of the year in a 2-0 win over Fairfield on Sept. 24.
- Babacar Diene scored in a 1-1 tie at Quinnipiac on Sept. 30 for his third goal of the year 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, extended his total to seven with goals against Mount St. Mary's and Marist and ended the regular season with a hat trick against Saint Peter's to get to double digits.
- 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. He added his second goal of the year in the regular-season finale against Saint Peter's.
- 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, and made it six with a give-and-go with Diop in the MAAC Quarterfinal win over Marist.
- 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 returned 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 led 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.