September 8, 2006 - Rider 4 Duquesne 3 (2 ot)
September 8, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Men’s College Soccer
Rider University 4, Duquesne University 3 (2 ot)
LEWISBURG, PA--The Broncs, ranked ninth in the North Atlantic Region, defeated Duquesne, ranked fourth in the Middle Atlantic Region, in the first round of the Geisinger/Days Inn Bucknell Invitational Friday night. “Duquesne is a very good team, they came in undefeated, so we did okay for ourselves,” said Rider head coach Russ Fager.
“This was a great win,” said Fager. “The guys worked their tails off tonight and are really tired right now, but like a couple of them said after the game, ‘if you are going to play this long, winning the game sure beats losing’.”
Sophomore Mike Juska (Wall) scored on a direct kick from 25 yards out to end the marathon game, which was held up for 45 minutes due to lightening. “Lightening, 45 minutes delay, two overtimes, it was a long day,” Fager said.
The game-winner was Juska’s fifth goal of the season and his third game-winner for the 3-1-1 Broncs. “Graham (Arnold) was dribbling about 25 yards out and got taken down,” Juska said. “I just lined up the direct kick and hit it right. I got lucky and it went in.”
“Graham was pushed and the ref called a direct kick,” Fager said. “We set it up and Juska whacked it and put it in the back of the net. It was a beautiful shot, far corner, not too far from the upper 90.”
Senior Dylan Matlack (Geigertown, Pa./Twin Valley) scored to tie the score at 1-1 on an assist from Arnold just 12 minutes into the game.
Rider trailed 2-1 before the lightening arrived, and senior Tim Jones (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) scored to tie the score at 2-2 on an assist from sophomore A.J. Parillo (South River, N.J./South River). “A.J. deflected the ball about 20 feet into the air, going toward my left foot,” Jones said. “I shot it far post and fortunately it went in from about 15 yards out.”
Junior Mark Ockenhouse (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) took a pass from Juska and scored on a header to give Rider a 3-2 lead. “We were basically dominating after the thunderstorm,” said Juska. “We got two good goals and they just got lucky to tie the score at 3-3. We couldn’t believe it. We were battling and took the 3-2 lead. We knew we played well enough to win this. We stuck to our game plan and we got the result we wanted.”
Duquesne (2-1-1) scored with under three minutes left in regulation to tie the score at 3-3, sending the game into overtime. The Dukes out-shot Rider 21-12. Rider senior goalkeeper Dan Riverso (Williamstown) made 10 saves.
Rider plays host Bucknell Saturday evening at 8:00 pm. “We’ll be able to suck up the fatigue and the injuries a little easier after a win and come back and do it again tomorrow night,” Fager said.
“My legs were killing me,” Juska said, “so I was almost as happy that the game was over as I was that we won. We worked hard and played well, so we all felt we deserved to win. It was nice being the person to make the game-winning shot, but I would have taken a win anyway tonight. This was just a real great win for us. Duquesne is a quality team. This is a great feeling. Now that we’re 3-1-1 we’re going in the right direction.”
-RU-
