NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The Iona College men's soccer team beat Rider 2-1 on Sunday afternoon in the First Round of the 2019 MAAC Championship, earning the program's first-ever home postseason victory. Junior Josh Plimpton scored the decisive goal in the match and had the helper on Esad Mackic's tally that opened up the scoring.

MATCH SUMMARY

After a chippy affair earlier in the season, as well as the memory of last season's MAAC Championship matchup between the two programs, the officials set the tone for the match early. Rider's Arthur Herpreck was issued a yellow card six minutes into the match, which was already the fourth foul between the two sides.
 
Najim Romero put the first shot on net for either side in the 14^th minute; Pablo Gatinois stopped the shot that was bound for the lower left corner of the net. Iona's offensive pressure allowed them to control in the Rider portion of the pitch, but shots from Ervin Dervisevic and Mauro Bravo went wide, keeping the match scoreless.
 
Esad Mackic changed that, scoring after recovering a ball in the box that Josh Plimpton lost momentarily. Mackic faked a shot with his right foot to create space to his left, using that momentum to fire a left-footed shot into the back of the cage and give his team a 1-0 lead. Romero fed the initial pass into the box for Plimpton, who evaded a defender and got enough of a piece of the ball to keep possession for the Gaels and set up Mackic for the score.
 
Rider's Sylvain Coco was issued the team's second card of the match in the 34^th minute, setting up a free kick for Iona in the offensive third. Bravo went for goal off of the set piece, but his try sailed out right. On the other end, Rider set up for a corner a minute later; the Gaels defense snuffed it out and moved up the pitch with a counter attack. Bravo sent a long pass ahead for Mackic who one touched it to Plimpton who got behind the defense and extended the Maroon & Gold lead to two goals. Plimpton, from about thirty yards out, deked Gatinois and sent a soft, grounded shot into the far side of the completely vacated net.
 
The Broncs had an immediate answer, scoring almost right off of the kickoff that resumed play. Francisco Gomez Olano found the ball on a scramble in the box and his right foot shot flew past Santucci to cut the Rider deficit in half with five minutes to play in the first half. The score would remain 2-1 in favor of the Gaels as the two sides entered the halftime break.
 
Four yellow cards were handed out in the first 15 minutes of second-half action, three of which were issued to the Gaels, who still led 2-1. Gatinois started off the second period with saves on shots from Mackic and Bravo. Giuliano Santucci was barely tested thanks to great defense by the Maroon & Gold.
 
For a moment, it had seemed that Rider found the equalizer it had so desperately been searching for; the shot went past Santucci and found nylon, but it was waved off almost immediately by the assistant referee who stood with his flag raised to signify that the Broncs were offside. Rider's incessant offensive pressure set up the chance, but inches were the difference that helped Iona maintain its lead late in the match.
 
The Gaels were the beneficiary of a couple of counter-attack, odd-man runs towards net, but Gatinois came up big for Rider. The keeper stopped two one-on-one tries by Lenworth Lopez to keep his team within striking distance of the match.
 
Iona packed it in defensively and sent Rider home packing, escaping with the program's first postseason victory at Mazzella Field. 

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• Iona's victory was the first postseason victory for the program at Mazzella Field. The Gaels advance and will travel to Quinnipiac this Thursday to play the two-seeded Bobcats.
• Mackic and Plimpton were responsible for both Iona goals. Plimpton's tally was the game winner and the two scorers had the primary assist on each other's goals. 
• Romero had the helper on the opening goal and Bravo assisted on the decisive second goal.
• Santucci did not register a save en route to his eighth win in net this year. The keeper has now matched his win total from a season prior.
• The Gaels avenged their loss to the Broncs earlier this season as well as their postseason loss at the hands of Rider last year.
• The win marks the first time the Maroon & Gold have defeated Rider at Mazzella Field since 2013. It also snaps the Broncs' six-game winning streak against Iona.
• The Gaels limited the Broncs to a season-low six shots in the match. Iona had more shots on goal (seven) than Rider registered across the entire 90 minutes of action.

UP NEXT

Iona advances on to play No. 2 seed Quinnipiac on Thursday, November 14; the start time is still to be determined. The contest will be streamed on ESPN+..

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