College Wrap: Rider men’s soccer captures share of MAAC regularseason title
Nov 06, 2024
LAWRENCEVILLE — Dylan Kotch scored a superb goal to put the icing on the cake on a Rider men’s soccer win that clinched a share of the regular season Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title.
The former Steinert High standout struck with an outside-of-the-boot laster for the final goal of a 3-0 victory over Mount St. Mary’s on Wednesday afternoon that gave the Broncs a pice of the regular-season crown for the first time since their inaugural year in the league in 1997.
While Rider (12-4-1, 6-1-1; 18 points) extended its unbeaten run to seven games, it had to settle for the No. 2 seed in the MAAC Tournament that gets underway this weekend after Iona scored four times in the second half to rout Saint Peter’s. Iona edged Rider to the top seed and homefield thanks to a 1-0 victory in the head-to-head meeting.
The Broncs were in pole position for the No. 1 seed with two matches to play, but dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Marist last weekend, which set up a final day scenario in which they had to better Iona’s result in Jersey City.
“I thought the second half, we started to look more like ourselves with just with the pressure — not even the goals, just the pressure all over the field,” second-year coach Chad Duernberger said. “We put together a good second half and I’m really happy with the overall performance and overall regular season and obviously co-champion situation. I don’t think we’ve been part of any title as a champion since 1997. It’s been a while and I’m happy we could achieve that.”
William Baker’s first career goal gave Rider the lead and Momo Diop doubled the advantage with his league-leading ninth. Goalkeeper Adam Salama kept his eighth cleansheet, which is a single-season program record.
Women’s Soccer
TCNJ 2, NJCU 0
EWING — Victoria D’Imperio scored her 13th goal of the season in the 44th minute and the undefeated Lions (16-0-2) cruised past the Gothic Knights (6-5-8) and into the NJAC final. Cassidy DiSabato staked TCNJ to a 16th-minute lead.
Field Hockey
TCNJ 2, Montclair State 1
EWING — Mackenzie Hart caged the game-winning goal in overtime and the Lions (13-6) advanced to the NJAC Tournament championship game with a victory over the Red Hawks (13-6). Isabel Maher gave TCNJ the lead, but Montclair State pulled level on a goal from Alexa Antonelli.