Confidence fueled on track to Rider
By Joshua Yuhas
From the moment he could walk, Rider men’s soccer graduate student defender Sawyer Koza was kicking the ball around the house practicing his skills for the soccer pitch. In a journey of twists and turns along the way, Koza found his home with the Broncs, carrying lessons and support gained across the path to Rider’s campus in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
Runs in the family
Being put in as many sports as possible from the jump, Koza was destined to follow in the footsteps of his athletic family, drawing inspiration from the field and the track.
“All my siblings ran for basically their entire lives, and they still continue to run. My mom runs, so that was really big in our family,” Koza said.
With his mother running, his brother Ethan running track and cross country for Lehigh and Temple University and his aunt playing soccer at the University of Delaware, Koza had a strong athletic pipeline to follow.
Running became an activity he enjoyed thoroughly, just like the rest of his family, and a trait that carried over well to the large pitches of soccer.
When hitting a hurdle or challenge, Koza always felt comfortable turning to his family, who carried the knowledge and experience to understand his circumstances.
“It was really nice to have an outlet to help me out when things got a little difficult, because they have been through similar,” Koza said.
Whether it was about injuries or playing time, there was always someone a call or text away for advice.
‘Something so simple’
A product of Newtown, Pennsylvania, Koza attended Council Rock North High School, where he added “All-District punter” to his athletic resume.
“It helped my understanding of a long ball here versus how high the ball is, all that stuff,” Koza said.
Before high school, Koza found his avenue into the professional world on the club side of soccer.
While with the Patriot FC club team at around age 10, a scout for the Philadelphia Union, a club in the top level of American soccer with Major League Soccer, invited Koza to train with them and eventually join the club’s youth academy.
“It was an awesome experience between the places I got to go, knowing some of the first team players now and a lot of the players who helped me out,” Koza said. “The coaching was so good, the players were so good. … I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without that.”
Although the time in the academy was a section of his career that he cherishes, there was one moment that a Union coach instilled a core trait that Koza defines himself with to this day.
That coach was Kevin Coleman, and when a 13-year-old Sawyer Koza was questioning his playing time, Coleman reassured him that confidence is important.
“That’s one conversation that I’ll never forget, because it’s something so simple that just being reminded of [it] has made a huge difference,” Koza said.
Since that conversation with Coleman, Koza has felt confident as a player with that profound impact transitioning into everything that he does.
Keep up with the pace
Coming up to the decision to open his college career, the familiarity of Temple with his mom and brother each attending the school and the opportunity to start led Koza to begin his collegiate career with the Owls in 2022.
Starting 10 of the 13 games in his freshman year at Temple, Koza scored three goals with six shots on goal, notching two assists that season, one against the then 22nd-ranked University of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
Following his freshman year, Koza felt it was the right time to make a change when he entered the transfer portal and found his way to the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights.
Making the jump to the Big 10, Koza had to make a major adjustment to the pacing of everything.
“It was just a much different speed of everything. Not even just the soccer, everything in general was faster and more intense. And that definitely took some getting used to,” Koza said.
With everyone giving their full effort all the time and looking to make that next step to the professional level, the level was raised for Koza.
In his opening season as a sophomore with the Scarlet Knights in 2023, Koza played 297 minutes across 11 games he appeared in, where he contributed an assist.
His following season, however, would be one where the support behind him would become critical, as an injury caused Koza to miss the entire 2024 campaign.
Koza would return for his senior season with Rutgers with 115 minutes played throughout seven games and one start in 2025.
At the conclusion of his undergraduate years, he was left with no choice but to find a new home if he wanted to continue his collegiate career.
“After I transferred from Temple, I swore I would never enter the transfer portal again, but I ended up having to be in there again,” Koza said.
Checking every box
Taking the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship in 2023 with a 12-4-4 record and the MAAC Regular Season title in 2024 with a 14-5-1 record, the Rider Broncs were one of the top performers in the conference, until 2025 saw a flip to a 2-11-1 season.
For Rider men’s soccer Head Coach Chad Duernberger, it was time to put the prior season behind, and that started with finding the right guys for the team to match the standard.
“I don’t want a locker room of the same personality, we want a locker room that has the same mentality,” Duernberger said. “We can have different people in the locker room, but they all have to have the same mentality for how we go about things.”
Looking for someone to join the brotherhood with the right mentality, Duernberger was also searching for players that added experience.
From his year at Temple and three years spent with Rutgers, Koza was the right personality and the experienced player that was needed for the roster.
As for Koza, the landscape of collegiate athletics creating major shifts in year-to-year performance was in the back of his mind, and he knew that any season can be turned around the following year, especially a system he was familiar with.
“I knew Ryan Vaubel on the team already, so I knew that there were some top quality players,” Koza said. “And I had faith that, you know, with the people coming in, there’s no doubt we could turn it around.”
In addition to all the traits scouted, Koza’s call made the decision that much easier to get back on track with the standard set over the past few years for the program.
“You can tell when you get on a call if you think it’s the right fit almost immediately. I could tell with Sawyer on the first call that he would fit right in here at Rider,” Duernberger said.
Settling in
In the start of the 2026 year, the chemistry amongst the team has made the adjustment to the pace of play in the Metro Conference a fun time.
From working together as a team, to hanging out, getting along from the jump as a new core was instant.
In addition to the quick chemistry building, finding the right training and tactics has been a crucial aspect of establishing confidence for Koza at Rider.
“[Duernberger] has done a great job of showing us different ways to play and how we can play with each other with the strengths that we have and the weaknesses that we have,” Koza said.
Koza has expressed consistent confidence on and off the pitch and, paired with his versatility, he has become a valuable addition to the Rider squad.
Whether it is working to maintain the back line or shifting his way up to the attack side, Koza’s versatility gives options for when anything is to come up.
“The fact that he could play as an attacking midfielder on a Tuesday night and then start at left back on a Saturday gives the team a lot of opportunity to be successful,” Duernberger said.
The brotherhood for the men’s soccer side has all but continued to grow with the new squad and the team all are together as a unit, whether split in a group or united.
All of these aspects have made the adjustment to Rider that much better for Koza to find his place and share his confidence, looking forward to the celebrations that can be had with the team.
Koza said, “It’s some of the most fun I’ve had and the easiest team I’ve been able to click with.”
