Rider 2, Longwood 0
September 1, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men’s College Soccer
Rider University 2, Longwood University 0
LAWRENCEVILLE—By moving the game up four hours, the Broncs beat the rain on Friday, and proceeded to beat Longwood as well.
Sophomore Mike Juska (Wall) scored his team-high third goal of the season to give Rider (2-1-1) a 1-0 lead with 13 minutes left in the first half off an assist from senior Adam Bailey (Southampton, Pa./Archbishop Wood). “The first half I thought was very choppy,” said head coach Russ Fager. “If it wasn’t for Mike Juska’s shot to put us in the lead, I don’t think we had any flow, any rhythm. It is always nice coming in off the field with a 1-0 lead, but I wasn’t real happy at half time. As far as possession went, as far as getting guys in the right spots, we just didn’t do it in the first half.”
Rider out-shot Longwood 17-9 in the game, including 10-5 in the second half.
“In the second half we began to settle in and began to possess the ball,” Fager said. “Once we did that we felt we could have had four or five goals when it was all done. We missed a PK, we hit an upright. We were getting the opportunities.”
Longwood (0-3) scored an ‘own goal’ with 15 minutes left in the game to give Rider the insurance goal. On the ‘own goal’, Rider's Bailey crossed a ball inside the box to freshman Brad Lefort (Chittenango, N.Y.). Just before the ball reached Lefort Longwood sophomore defender Nate Van Arsdale attempted to kick the ball over the net but put the ball into the back of it for a 2-0 Rider lead.
Rider senior goalkeeper Dan Riverso (Williamstown) made three saves for the shutout, his first of the year and the seventh of his career. “I think the shutout says a lot about the defense,” Riverso said. “We’re solid in the back. I’m not getting as many shots on me as in the past, and that’s a good thing. I only have to make one or two big saves a game.”
Riverso earned Second Team All-MAAC honors last season and is a Preseason All-MAAC selection this year. “Those things are nice, and I’ll take them, but I’d rather make the playoffs than make All-MAAC,” Riverso said. “This is by far the best team we’ve had in my four years here. We’re solid everywhere, we have depth everywhere, I think we can go deep into the playoffs this year.”
“Riverso has been playing well,” Fager said. “We got beat by Monmouth on Tuesday and I don’t think any of the goals were his fault. He has made some nice saves for us. He kept us in the La Salle game. Dan is a gamer. He’s in the right place at the right time. He works hard, he’s a leader on the field, and I think that he’s going to get better as we keep going.”
Brandt Youmans made three saves in goal for the Lancers.
Rider travels to Bucknell next weekend to take on Duquesne Friday and Bucknell Saturday evening. “The big thing for us was getting a win when we have a lot of guys banged up, and we’re hoping to have a few of them back for next weekend,” Fager said.
“I thought we played really well today,” Riverso added. “Coming off the loss at Monmouth, to turn things around was really big for us.”
Even bigger than getting the game in before the rain.
-ru-
