LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – Pablo DeCastro (Madrid, Spain/Universidad Francisco de Vitoria) scored his team-leading eighth goal of the year, but the Rider University men’s soccer team fell to Quinnipiac, 3-1, Wednesday afternoon on Ben Cohen Field. With the loss, the Broncs (7-7-2, 4-4-2 MAAC) take the No. 6 seed in the MAAC Championships, while Quinnipiac (9-5-3, 7-2-1 MAAC) will be either the No. 2 or 3 seed, depending on Iona’s result tonight at Monmouth. Should Iona win, the Broncs will head to third-seeded Quinnipiac in Sunday’s Quarterfinals. An Iona loss or tie would send Rider to New Rochelle.

Quinnipiac struck first in the fifth minute, when Romain Daniellou sent a cross from the right sideline that sailed over both Bobcats’ midfielder Evan Hughes and Rider goalkeeper Pablo Gatinois (Madrid, Spain/Lycee Francais de Madrid [Oregon State]) and into the corner of the net for the 1-0 Quinnipiac lead. Rider equalized in the 36^th minute, as Sergio Aguinaga (Madrid, Spain/Antonio Dominguez Ortiz) got past his defender to the goal line and crossed to DeCastro for a header from close range.

The Bobcats got what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 60^th minute, as Jason Budhai fed Tomas Svecula for the score. With Rider bringing everyone forward looking for the equalizer, Budhai got ahead of the pack and beat Gatinois for the two-goal lead in the 88^th minute.
 

Quotes and Notes

“I think everybody’s pretty positive. We had some guys out. We’re starting to get some guys back. I think we’re ready to enter the playoffs.”

“I think we’re a pretty good road team. The last five years, we’ve won 32 road games, including the playoffs. I don’t think it’s anything to be overly concerned about. We actually like going on the road to play.” – Rider Head Coach Charlie Inverso

- Quinnipiac closed Rider’s lead in the all-time series to 6-4.
- Through 16 games this season, Rider has not had consecutive wins, losses or ties.

 

Broncs By The Numbers

- The goal was DeCastro’s team-leading eighth of the year and his 25^th as a Bronc. The incredibly-consistent DeCastro had 19 points in both 2017 and 2018 and currently has 18 points this year.  
- Aguinaga contributed his second assist of the season, giving him a pair of assists in each of his three years at Rider.  
- Gatinois made two saves in goal for Rider.   
- Rider took a 17-9 edge in shots, including a 7-5 edge in shots on goal.    
- Quinnipiac took five corner kicks to the Broncs’ three.