Men's Soccer
2012 Schedule Announced
LAWRENCEVILLE--Second-year head coach Charlie Inverso has announced the 2012 Rider University men's soccer schedule.
Rider will play at home nine times and have two games right up the street in the Princeton Tournament. Five of the nine Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference games will also be played on Rider's Ben Cohen Field.
"Hopefully we'll be able to cause some excitement and attract good crowds this year," said Inverso, who compiled a Hall of Fame career at Mercer County Community College with a record of 434-46-14.
The Broncs open the season with a 7pm Friday night home game with cross-state rival Monmouth. "It's great that we got Monmouth on the schedule," Inverso said.
Rider has not played Monmouth since 2008 and hasn't defeated the Hawks since 1998.
"We're trying to upgrade the schedule and Monmouth is the perfect team to do that with," Inverso said. "They are a great team."
The former Northeast Conference rivals have met 20 times, with Monmouth holding a 12-6-2 advantage in the series.
Rider returns to Seton Hall, where the Broncs pulled off a 1-0 upset win in Coach Inverso's Rider debut. "I'm sure they will be ready for us," Inverso said.
The Broncs will shuttle between Brooklyn and Philadelphia in September, playing at Long Island and Saint Joseph's while hosting Saint Francis-NY and Temple.
Rider has an Ivy League weekend September 21-23. "We play two teams that are always contending for the Ivy League crown," Inverso said.
The Broncs play cross-town rival Princeton on Friday night and come back to play the University of Pennsylvania at Princeton Sunday afternoon.
"Princeton on a Friday night should be a great atmosphere," Inverso said. "It is one of the best facilities in the country. We're going to be playing two teams that really play soccer the right way. These two and Monmouth are real upgrades in our schedule."
Rider lost in double overtime at Lafayette last year and will host the Leopards to begin October.
The MAAC schedule beings with the Western NY trip to Canisius and Niagara. "We make that trip at a good part of the year," Inverso said. "It will be cold but it shouldn't be anything severe."
Five of the final seven games are home, including the final three, as the Broncs build momentum toward the four-team MAAC Championship tournament, hosted by Loyola. "Playing those last three games at home is going to be great," Inverso said.
The Broncs close out the regular season with a 7pm Senior Night against Loyola. November 2. "We want Senior Night to be special," Inverso said.
The Broncs suffered 10 one-goal losses in Coach Inverso's first year at Rider. "There were some real heart-breakers last year," Inverso said. "I think it was an indication that we played every game through. At the end of those games I had nothing but positive things to say about their effort. We're competing, we just have to get better and turn some of those moral victories into wins."
With the Broncs sleeping in their own beds for 11 of the 18 regular season games, the Rider fans will have many opportunities to witness the resurgence of the program first hand.
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