Rider soccer teams’ win streaks come to an end

By Charles Guthrie

Just when it seemed like the men’s and women’s soccer teams were hitting their stride, they each suffered minor setbacks in the past week.

The Rider women’s team (2-1-3) was able to extend its three-game unbeaten streak at the end of last year into an eight-game stretch before its loss to the Towson Tigers (5-1).

The Bronc offense had valuable chances to score, but was unable to get the job done in its 2-0 loss to the Tigers. Rider was out-shot 19-12, but was taking good shots as nine of the 12 were on target.

“The first two weekends we played some tough opponents,” Head Coach Kevin Long said. “We need more wins as a team we are not generating enough offense to help our defense that has played well.”

Sophomore midfielder Phyllicia Rosselli scored both of the Tigers’ goals. Her first strike came at 34:46 when she was assisted by freshman midfielder Christa DeBole.

The second goal was scored at 45:54 with an assist by senior midfielder Alison Reinhart. Senior goalie Brandi Daniels made nine saves for Towson, and freshman Alex Post had six for the Broncs.

Freshman forward Kara Perkoski led the team with three shots in the game and is continuing to make an instant impact for the soccer team. Perkoski has four assist so far this year and that has her as second on the team in points.

“I feel that I just work as hard as I can to get the time I do to play on the field,” Perkoski said. “On the field, I feel that we all click and all know where we are suppose to be, so it’s easy to find someone with the ball on the field.”

The Rider men’s team (2-4) had a rough start to the season, dropping its first three games, however the men battled back with two straight road wins beating Philadelphia University (0-4-1) 2-1, and St. Joseph’s (1-4) 2-0. The 3-0 loss to Bucknell (1-3-2) snapped a two game winning streak.

The Broncs were unable to get a lot of shots on goal as they only managed two shots on goal (one in each half) to Bison’s 15. The Bison’s scoring started early when senior midfielder Corey Curnutte scored at the 8:25 mark in the first half.

The score remained 1-0 until late in the second half when the Bisons added two goals. Junior midfielder Alex Russo scored at the 85:56 mark on a 45 yard hook shoot, and then shortly after senior midfielder Justin Wolf added the final goal of the game on a header.

“The first half we had a hard time figuring out what they were doing and getting pressure on the people with the ball,” Head Coach Russ Fager told Rider Sports Information. “I thought we did a much better job of that in the second half for 40 minutes.”

The men’s team has also received valuable contributions from its freshman players as Jim Bradley won MAAC Rookie of the Week for Sept. 10-16.

Bradley has scored two goals this year and is second on the team in points with four. He scored the game winning goal against Philadelphia University on Sept. 12.

“We are a pretty young team up top, so I knew the opportunity to play was there for me,” Bradley said. “I trained hard over the summer and the transition here has been easier for me thanks to having great captains helping me along the way.”

The women’s team will travel to play Monmouth University (1-2-2) today at 3 p.m., while the men’s next game will be Saturday as they take on George Washington (4-2) on the road.