SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall men’s soccer team played a solid 90 minutes in front of a packed house at Owen T. Carroll Field, but came up short in a 1-0 defeat to Rider in both squads season-opener. The Pirates will host Delaware on Thursday, September 1, at 7:00 p.m.

SHU dominated time of possession, outshooting the Broncs (1-0) by a 15-7 count and holding a 12-2 edge on corner kicks. Senior Giovanni Zammiello (Randolph, N.J.) had a team-high three shots in 45 minutes off the bench.

The Pirates first scoring opportunity came in the 32^nd minute after Adriano Gabriele (North Babylon, N.Y.) found some open space on the left side and fired a shot on net. Rider goalkeeper Matt Perrella made a nice save going to his left to preserve the clean-sheet.

Six minutes later, the Broncs earned their only two corners of the contest back-to-back. On the second attempt, Ryan Fitzerald’s bender connected with the head of Jonathan Burd in heavy traffic in front of the net and went in.

Seton Hall continued to apply pressure in the second half and almost had the equalizer after another tricky shot by Gabriele was punched away by Perella. The rebound came to the feet of Victor Manosalvas (Clifton, N.J.), but the sophomore was slightly pressured by a Rider defender and could not quite gain full control as his off-balance shot was off the mark.

Sophomore Anthony Reichwaldt (Lincoln, Neb.) made one save in his Pirate debut. Perrella made three saves to earn the victory.

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