Men's College Soccer-MAAC Tournament
Rider University 2, Canisius College 1
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA-There is a proverb, "turnabout is fair play," which means it is fair for one to suffer whatever one has caused others to suffer.
After losing in the final minutes to Canisius during the regular season, the Broncs returned the favor Thursday.
The Broncs came-from-behind to defeat Canisius in the opening round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship tournament, held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World Resorts. "I thought we played well today," said Rider head coach Charlie Inverso. "I think it showed a lot of character on our part."
Junior Dan Friga (Clifton, N.J./Passaic County Tech) took a pass from junior Brandon Sebastian (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Twp.) and scored from 15 yards out to give Rider (4-12-2, 2-6-1 MAAC) a 2-1 lead with 6:18 left in the game.
"Boots (Sebastian) won the ball, got it to me and I was fortunate enough to put it in the back of the net," Friga said.
The goal was the team-high fifth of the season for Friga. "I felt that Dan was one of the guys who could get us a goal and he scored a beautiful one," Inverso said. "It was a hard struck goal in the upper left corner."
The Broncs tied the score at 1-1 when freshman Matt Veltri (Mays Landing/Oakcrest) came in off the bench, gathered a loose ball in the box and scored his first collegiate goal 9:27 into the second half. "Veltri had a very good game today," Inverso said. "He not only scored the game-tying goal but he was all over the field today."
"Scoring a goal gives you confidence," Inverso said. "After we scored you could just see we had the confidence to keep it going."
Canisius (4-14-1, 2-6-1 MAAC) took a 1-0 lead 17 minutes into the game on the Griff's first and only shot on goal of the game. "It looked like for a while it was going to be another case where we played well but lost," Inverso said. "I was very proud of these guys. It could have been a case where we said 'oh, here we go again,' but we kept battling. It's great to pull one out."
Rider out-shot Canisius 19-10, including 7-1 in shots on goal. "We attacked well the whole game," Inverso said. "It was just a matter of when we were going to break through."
"Our defense played great today," Friga said. "It was a whole team effort. We had players coming in off the bench playing well."
Rider and Canisius have now met 17 times with Rider winning Rider nine. The last time Rider defeated Canisius was in 2007.
On October 23 Rider led Canisius 1-0 with 2:40 left before the Golden Griffins tied the score and then won it in overtime. That game marked the third time this season that the Broncs lost a conference game in the final minutes. "I guess it's true that turnabout is fair play," Inverso said. "It is ironic how the two games with them went this year."
This was Rider's first playoff appearance since 2007. The last time Rider won a playoff game was 2004 when Rider defeated Loyola in the semifinals before losing in the Title Game to Marist.
The Broncs will now play the top seed, Fairfield (9-4-1, 8-0-1 MAAC), Friday at 1:45 in the quarterfinals. That game, along with the semifinals and finals, will be broadcast on ESPN3.
"We're looking forward to it," Inverso said. "They are another team that kind of stole one from us this year."
The Fairfield contest this season was another game that the Broncs lost in the closing minutes. Rider led Fairfield 2-1 on October 2 before the Stags tied the score with 56 seconds remaining, and Fairfield won the game in overtime.
"We're excited about playing Fairfield again," Friga said. "It was a lot like Canisius. We felt like they took a win away from us at the very end of the game, so we're ready for paybacks."
"Friday's game is not going to be easy," Inverso said, "playing a team that did not have to play today while we're coming back on 20 hours of recovery time. But one thing I am never worried about with this group is a lack of effort."
Saturday is an off day for the teams to enjoy Disney World. The semifinals are Sunday at 11am and 1:30 pm, with the MAAC Title Game Monday at 12 noon.
This is Rider's eighth appearance in the MAAC Tournament. Rider won the MAAC Championship Tournament in 1997 and again in 1998, Rider's first two years in the MAAC.
Normally a four-team tournament, the MAAC Championships are a 10-team tournament every four years when it is held in Florida.
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