Riverdale, NY — Manhattan pulled away from Rider in the second half to seal a crucial 2-0 win on Wednesday afternoon at Gaelic Park. The Jaspers needed to win in order to have a chance at making the postseason while Rider had already clinched a spot in the top eight of the standings.
Rider won the possession battle in the first half and had a few advancements down the left side that kept the Manhattan backline busy. Manhattan goalie Danny DiMarco came up with multiple saves with his fist off Rider crosses on his way to compiling five saves for the home team.
The Manhattan offense had a couple sequences later on in the first half that was a glimpse of what was to come in the second half.
The Jaspers offense was clicking on all cylinders out of the break with Brandon Joseph-Buadi, James Cotter, and Noah Boyce regularly winning possession and keeping it on the left side of the field. In the 55th minute, Joseph-Buadi delivered his second goal of the season by using his speed to get behind the Rider defense before beating the keeper with his left foot. Then Velez broke through for his fifth goal of the season 10 minutes later when a miscommunication with the Rider backline led to a steal and a chip over the goal by the junior striker.
The Manhattan midfield and defense worked together to stymie the Broncs' attack for the rest of the game, only surrendering five shots on net by the end of the 90 minutes. Rider only had five shots total in the second half.
Following the win, DiMarco now has four clean sheets on the season in his second campaign as a starter. Over the last three home games including Wednesday afternoon Manhattan has only conceded one goal led by the efforts of Thomas Hitchins and Simon Busch in the back. All in all, the Jaspers have won four of their last five games.
"Four wins in five games is incredible for this group," Manhattan Head Coach Jorden Scott said.
The Jaspers have locked up the eight seed despite tying their MAAC opener against Iona on September 29 and proceeding to lose their next four conference tilts. Scott is proud of the way his team has recovered to extend their season
"The fact that we're in there speaks about the resilience of the group," Scott said. "They never gave up."
Manhattan's opponent in the quarterfinals is contingent on who ends up with the number one seed in the conference. If Marist beats Fairfield on Wednesday night, then the Jaspers will go play the Red Foxes in Poughkeepsie in a rematch of the 2019 quarterfinal matchup which Marist won 2-1. But if Fairfield wins, there will be a three-way tie between Fairfield, Marist, and Saint Peter's atop the standings which will be resolved through a goal differential tiebreaker.
"Anybody can win," Scott said. "It's just a matter of can you turn up on the right day with the right game plan and they execute the plan."
