Box score
LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ—NJIT picked up its first men's soccer tie of the season, coming away with a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes at Rider Tuesday afternoon.
NJIT's Erik Magnusson scored at 19:44, sending home a rebound of a shot by teammate Patrick O'Driscoll and staking the Highlanders to a 1-0 lead.
“We got a good goal,” said NJIT coach Pedro Lopes. “They cleared to Pat O'Driscoll and he took a great shot. Their keeper (Dylan Hastings) made the save, but he couldn't control it and it rebounded to Erik, who tucked it away.”
The Highlanders lead lasted just 38 seconds, as Rider drew even on a goal by Jim Bradley, assisted by Anthony Gilbert at 20:22.
Bradley's goal was his team's only shot on goal for the entire 110 minutes, but he had just missed earlier, hitting the post at 13:49.
“We started slow, but once Rider hit the post, we came together and took control of the game before we scored,” said Lopes.
Both starting goalkeepers went the distance—Josh Osit for NJIT and Hastings (five saves) for the Broncs.
The Highlanders had a decided 16-6 advantage in total shots and the shots on goal were 6-1 in favor of NJIT. The corner kicks were 5-4, Rider.
“We played pretty well,” said Lopes. “I was disappointed that we were caught napping to let them tie the game so soon after we had scored. But we played a lot of the game in their half of the field. We had quite a few plays where we got control of the ball at midfield for 3-v-2's or 4-v-2's, but we couldn't get the sharp passes we needed.
“We came close a couple of times late in the second half and the overtimes. Erik (Magnusson) and Kevin (Blanco) each had headers that just went over the top.”
Tuesday's result left both teams with similar records on the season, as NJIT is now 1-5-1 and Rider is 1-5-2. A year ago in Newark, Rider won the first Division I meeting between the schools, 3-1. The overall all-time series is 4-2-2 in favor of Rider.
NJIT, which plays its first nine games this season against teams either from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference or the Northeast Conference, is 1-2-1 against MAAC teams after tying Rider.
The Highlanders will meet their fifth, and final, MAAC foe of 2008 in the next contest, when they host Iona on Saturday at 7 pm on Lubetkin Field.
