Monday, Nov 14, 2016
Men's soccer team earns NCAA Tournament berth with a 3-1 win over top-seeded Quinnipiac
by Rider Sports Information
The Rider University men’s soccer team earned its second-straight MAAC Championship and NCAA Tournament berth with a 3-1 win over top-seeded Quinnipiac Sunday afternoon. The MAAC Championship is the fourth in Rider program history (1997, 1998, 2015, 2016). The Broncs (13-3-3) will learn their NCAA Tournament opponent Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com. Rider will host a viewing party in the Mercer Room on the Lawrenceville campus, beginning at 12:30 p.m. The event is open to the public, with food and drinks provided. Rider's NCAA Tournament First Round game will be played Thursday, Nov. 17, with an opponent and venue to be determined.
Elliott Otmani, Clement Bourret and Jose Aguinaga scored goals for the Broncs while Christian Flath distributed a pair of assists. Otmani, Bourret and Adrien Huss (Madrid, Spain/Lycee Francais de Madrid) were named to the MAAC All-Championship Team, while goalkeeper Ryan Baird earned MAAC Championship MVP.
“It feels amazing. It’s been a great year for us,” said Aguinaga. “We just knew we could do it. We just had to work hard because we knew that we were a really, really good team. That’s what we did and it worked, so we’re happy.”
The Broncs struck first in the 42nd minute, when Flath forced a turnover deep in the Quinnipiac end, got into the box and calmly waited for Otmani to join him. Flath dished left to Otmani, who finished past goalkeeper Chrys Iakovidis and a streaking Bobcats defender for the 1-0 lead. Quinnipiac equalized in the 51st minute, when James Doig served the ball on a set piece into the box to Connor McCoy, who went inside the left post to knot things up at 1-1.
“We knew they were going to be physical,” said Baird. “We knew they were tall up top and we had trouble defending set pieces all year, so we knew that was going to be a struggle.”
But just over 11 minutes later, a strong individual effort from Bourret proved to be the game winner. The freshman received the ball 25 yards out, made a move to his right toward the top of the 18-yard box and rifled a shot between two converging defenders inside the right post past Iakovidis.
The Broncs put the game away in the 85th minute, when Flath found Aguinaga 1v1 with a Bobcats defender. Aguinaga made a move to his right and got off a strong shot while falling to the ground that beat Iakovidis for the 3-1 lead.
“It’s great,” said Baird. “We wanted to repeat again this year. We knew what we had to do. We had talent. We knew it was possible. We wanted to go one step further than last year. We’ve made it to the NCAA Tournament and now we want to go one step further. I’m so proud of the team.”