Men's College Soccer

Rider's Warncke MAAC All-Rookie Team

10 Broncs All-Academic

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA-Freshman Jens Warncke (Lohne, Germany) of the Rider University men's soccer team was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference All-Rookie team, it was announced at the MAAC Championship Tournament.

Warncke started all 19 games as the central defender for the Broncs, who defeated Canisius 2-1 in the MAAC Championship Tournament before losing 1-0 to the top seed, Fairfield.

"Jens was our first recruit and we were really happy with the way he stepped in as a freshman to solidify our defense," said first-year head coach Charlie Inverso, who led Rider to its first MAAC Tournament victory since 2007. 

The Rider defense, led by Warncke, gave up 27 goals in 19 games this season.  Last year Rider surrendered 44 goals in 18 games.

"The amount of goals that we conceded from last year was down significantly and Jens played a big part in that turnaround," Inverso said. "We hope that he is indicative of the kind of recruits that we are going to bring into the program."

Named to the MAAC All-Academic team from Rider were senior Jonathan Burd (Kendall Park, N.J./South Brunswick), junior William Daley (Birdsboro, PA/Twin Valley), senior Corey Diamond (East Brunswick/U. of New Hampshire), sophomore Eric Elgin (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley), junior Ryan Fitzgerald (Yardville, N.J./Steinert), junior Chris Kozak (Flanders, N.J./Morris Catholic), junior Brenden Noesges (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township), junior Matt Perrella (North Brunswick, N.J./N. Brunswick), senior Christopher Pimentel (Brick, N.J./Brick Memorial) and senior Matt Welna (Sayreville, N.J./ Sayreville War Memorial).

"We are really proud of the fact that we had 10 players on the all academic team," Inverso said. "All of the credit should be given to (retired head coach) Russ (Fager) for the type of student that he brought into the program and we are definitely looking to keep this kind of success moving forward."

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