Dear Friends of Rider Athletics:

The 2009-10 sports seasons are behind us now and we’re preparing for a busy fall, but it is still important to take a moment to look back and reflect on some of the highlights from last year including the Northeast Conference Regular Season Championship captured by the field hockey team, the MAAC Championship and NCAA Tournament berth the baseball team achieved, the continued success of our student-athletes in the classroom and the construction of the new turf field for men’s and women’s soccer and field hockey.

The field hockey team got the year off on the right foot in the fall, winning the Northeast Conference Regular Season Championship with a thrilling overtime victory over Lock Haven in the last regular season game of the season. Head Coach Lori Hussong was named NEC Coach of the Year while sophomore Virginia Egusquiza won the NEC Player of the Year award and freshman Marlaine Schneider earned NEC Rookie of the Year honors.

Additionally, the indoor and outdoor track & field teams enjoyed a fine year, with the men’s team finishing 2^nd in the indoor meet and both teams finishing runners-up in their respective MAAC Outdoor Championships. Freshman Daequan Kim was named the MAAC Men’s Most Outstanding Performer and Head Coach Bob Hamer won MAAC Coach of the Year at the indoor meet while senior Alicia Price earned the MAAC Women’s Most Outstanding Field Performer at the outdoor meet.  Junior Christian Gonzalez, senior Alicia Price and freshman Greg Wesh represented Rider at the NCAA’s in May.

The men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams finished second at the MAAC Championships and the Broncs took home the awards for MAAC Male and Female Diver of the Meet and MAAC Diving Coach of the Year.  The teams also produced two National-qualifying divers (Amanda Burke and Paul Apostolakis) and Rider was represented at Nationals for the third consecutive year.

Meanwhile, the wrestling team sent six individuals to Nationals. Senior Ed Bordas was a Colonial Athletic Association Champion for the third year in a row at heavyweight and senior Mike Kessler earned a CAA Championship at 149 lbs.

The men’s basketball team advanced to the MAAC semifinal game before losing a tough game to eventual MAAC Champion Siena. Senior Ryan Thompson was named to the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association First Team, earned NABC 2^nd Team All-District I honors, was selected to the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major All-America team and earned First Team All-MAAC honors as well.

The baseball team reached the 30-win mark for the first time since 2002 and only the 6^th time in the history of the sport.  The team won the MAAC Championship for the second time in the last three years, earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and played Texas and Rice in the Austin Regional. The Broncs were led by junior Mike Thomas, the MAAC Pitcher of the Year, who also earned ABCA/Rawlings All-East Region First Team honors and will now have his name on the All-America ballot.  In addition, senior Nick Wojnowski earned 2^nd Team All-MAAC honors and junior A.J. Albee was named to the All-Tournament team at the NCAA Regional in Austin.

Our student-athletes once again continued to shine in the classroom.  In the fall, the average semester GPA for all of our student-athletes was over a 3.0 and 11 of our 18 programs (counting indoor and outdoor track as one program instead of two separate ones on the men’s and women’s side) posted team GPA’s above a 3.0 as well.  Additionally, 12 of our 18 programs had 50% or more of their student-athletes with a semester GPA of 3.0 or higher.  In the spring 2010 semester 15 of our 18 squads had at least 50% of their student –athletes above a 3.0 and I’m proud to say that the average GPA of our student-athletes improved to 3.08.  Finally the men’s basketball and women’s tennis teams received public recognition from the NCAA for their Academic Progress Rate.

In terms of facility enhancements, we began construction in January, 2010, on the University’s first-ever turf field with lights. Funded through a combination of private gifts and internal departmental commitments, this new state-of-the-art athletic venue will be the home field for Rider's men's and women's intercollegiate soccer and field hockey teams.  The field will also provide an additional and much-needed site for intramural and club sport practices and competitions. Rider partnered with industry leader FieldTurf to install the DuraSpine Monofilament Turf System on what was the former soccer game field.  The project was completed in May and we are looking forward to our first games on it in the fall.

Looking ahead, we continue to show our commitment to staying current with new technological advances by enhancing our live and on demand videostream broadcasts and will include graphics and multiple cameras for our men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and wrestling events this year.  These upgrades are our small way of trying to enhance your BroncVision experience so you can have “all-access” to your favorite team.   We’ll also be videostreaming selected men’s and women’s soccer and field hockey contests from the new turf field on a game-by-game basis. The complete schedule will follow on BroncVision. 

In keeping up with social networking trends, our fans can follow Rider Athletics on Facebook (search Rider Athletics and become a “fan”) and Twitter at http://twitter.com/RIDERATHLETICS and will be able get frequent updates on the Broncs.

It was a busy and successful 2009-10, but as you can see it’s great to be a Bronc and I hope you’ll continue to support Rider Athletics. GO BRONCS!

Sincerely, 

Don Harnum
Director of Athletics