2006 Season Begins Friday
August 24, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rider Sports Begin This Weekend
LAWRENCEVILLE—The Rider University men’s and women’s soccer teams begin the 2006 fall athletic season this Friday with a home doubleheader, while the Rider volleyball team begins competing Friday on the road.
The women’s soccer team hosts Towson at 1:30 pm Friday, and the men follow at 4:00 pm against Richmond. The volleyball team takes on host Colgate Friday night in the first round of the two-day Colgate Invitational. “LiveStats” for all three events will be available on the Rider Athletics website, www.GoBroncs.com.
With the return of 12 letterwinners, including eight starters, the women’s soccer team looks to return to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship tournament for the sixth consecutive season, and reach the MAAC Title Game for the third time.
“Last year we were very young without much experience,” said head coach Kevin Long, the sport’s winningest coach ever at Rider with 26 victories in three seasons. “This year we are still young, with just two seniors, but we are much more experienced, and we brought in players who will make us stronger at both ends of the field.”
The Broncs will be led by the two seniors from Council Rock South High School, Kelli Burke and Lauren Terzyk, who have been teammates since they were in grade school and have both received honors from the MAAC in their collegiate career. Burke earned second team All-MAAC honors in 2004. Terzyk was a member of the MAAC All-Rookie team in 2003.
The men’s soccer team possesses the most experience in almost a decade with the return of 18 letterwinners, including seven starters. “The last time we had veterans like this was during the 1996, 97, 98 seasons,” said head coach Russ Fager, reflecting on the teams that sent him to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and compiled 37 wins in three years. “Those were big years for our program, and this year we have the most senior leadership since then, with 12 juniors and seniors.
The long list of returnees is led by seniors Dan Riverso, the Preseason All-MAAC for goalkeeper for 2006, after earning Second Team All-MAAC honors last season.
With eight new faces, a new offense, a new defense, and a new conference schedule format, there will be a lot of learning going on in the Rider volleyball program this fall. Fortunately, learning is what these Broncs do best. Last season Rider had the highest team grade point average in the MAAC, as the only MAAC team and one of 54 NCAA Division I teams to receive the Game Plan/American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award with a 3.42 academic year grade point average.
The Broncs are young, but possess “one of the strongest incoming classes, as a whole, that we have brought in,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist, now in her eighth season at Rider.
The field hockey team travels to West Chester August 30 to open the 2006 campaign, and the men’s and women’s cross country teams begin September 9 at the Fordham Invitational. Tennis and golf begin September 14-16.
