The men's soccer team earned revenge against the Rider on Monday night at Owen T. Carroll field defeating Broncos, 2-1, in overtime after losing to the Broncs in last year's season opener.
Midway into the first half, the Broncs gained momentum and scored their only goal of the game off the foot of forward Ryan Walsh.
It took, time but the Pirates found a way to rally back.
With only 18 seconds left in the first half, freshmen midfielder Eric Lagg scored the Pirates first goal of the game with a strike and tied up the score heading into half time.
The second half of the game went scoreless and forced the game into overtime. It only took less than a full minute for the Pirates to claim victory as sophomore midfielder Andrew LoManto scored the game winning goal with a header off of a save.
Pirates head coach Gerson Echeverry said the team had strong and weak points during the game against the Broncs.
"I thought there were moments in which we did very well, we maintained the tempo of the game and controlled a lot of the game," Echeverry said. "We made a couple mistakes here and there especially on their first goal, which could have set us back, but I'm very proud of the way the kids kept fighting and especially were able to get the first goal before the half which took a lot of determination."
Echeverry also commended the effort of senior midfielder Adriano Gabriele and sophomore forward George Velasquez.
"I think that the work rate that Adriano (Gabriele), put in was fabulous," Echeverry said, "and George (Velasquez), was coming off of an injury and was able to put in a lot of minuets for us."
The Pirates now head on to the Old Dominion Tournament in Norfolk, Va. where they will face Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth.
Coach Echeverry said the momentum going into the tournament is a good one after pulling out the win against the Broncs.
"I think it's positive, every time after a win especially in which you gut out like this one," Echeverry said. "You feel good about yourself."
Echeverry said that in order to win in the tournament they will have a couple key things that they need to do well.
"I think not giving up silly goals and making the other team earn goals instead of giving them away," Echeverry said, when asked what the team needs to do well on in the tournament. "And anytime we have opportunities that we create we have to put them away so we can give our defenders a rest."
Courtney Hnasko can be reached at Courtney.hnasko@student.shu.edu
