Broncs right the ship, defeat Merrimack 2-1

By Benjamin Shinault

After being shut out in back-to-back matches by Army and Iona, Rider men’s soccer bounced back with a 2-1 victory over its new Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe, the Merrimack Warriors, on Oct. 5.

‘He leads by example’

Rider made its way to North Andover, Massachusetts, to take on the Warriors, who had a rough start to their season. However, in the 31st minute, Merrimack lit the scoreboard first with a penalty-kick goal stemmed from a foul by Rider graduate student back Cole Sotack.

The Broncs equalized 13 minutes later with halftime approaching. Junior midfielder Theo De Silva sent a ball past the Merrimack goalkeeper to tie up the match, 1-1. This was De Silva’s third goal in his first year with the Broncs.

Looking back on the first half of the match, Head Coach Chad Duernberger knew what had to be adjusted: “I feel like we needed to get a little tighter defensively, more energy in our game and tempo on the ball … speed of play were the biggest things we talked about at halftime.”

The Broncs granted Duernberger’s wishes, as they were much more swift with the ball in the second half.

With the match still 1-1, junior midfielder Momo Diop came through in the 51st minute with a strike from 25 yards out, granting him his MAAC-leading sixth goal of the season to make the score 2-1. 

Diop leads the MAAC in total points with 13. His teammate, senior midfielder Bryan Akongo, is second with 12 points.

“Momo understands that we need him to be playing at a high level for us and for him to step up and put the ball in the net and be great. It was really pleasing to see,” Duernberger said.

Diop went into what was going through his mind as he was dashing through the Warriors’ defense to give Rider the lead.

“It was a big moment and I was like, ‘I have to have that goal to help my team,’ and I’m really glad it happened,” Diop said.

Duernberger contrasted Diop on and off the field: “Momo is not the most vocal player in the locker room. He leads by example — just his talent level and how he trains every single day. He’s one of the hardest workers on our team.”

The Warriors had another chance later on, a penalty kick in the 78th minute, but junior goalkeeper Adam Salama blocked the kick to give the Broncs their seventh win of the season. 

Salama was another player that Duernberger called out for having a great performance against Merrimack. “I’m just really happy for him to make a big save on another penalty kick to allow us to win,” Duernberger said. 

The Broncs will have some time to practice and prepare for their next matchup, where they take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Oct. 12. Rider will be home at Ben Cohen Field for the matchup at 4 p.m., which will be broadcast on ESPN+.