EMMITSBURG, Md. – Sophomore Jimmy Ockford (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) notched his first collegiate goal in the 65th minute to lift Mount St. Mary's past Rider 2-1 in non-conference men's soccer action on Sunday.

Ockford took a pass from freshman Matthew Steele (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) and rifled the ball past the goalkeeper to break a 1-all standstill and give the Mount (1-1-1) its first win of the season in the squad's 2011 Waldron Family Stadium debut.

Senior Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia/St. Francis Xavier) scored the Mountaineers first tally of the afternoon off an Ian Hendrie (Potomac, Md./St. Andrews Episcopal School) assist. With the goal, Wheeler moved into third place on the program's all-time career goal list (34) and sixth on the all-time points list (73). Peter Steve (Dallas, Pa./Dallas) made one save to earn his first win.

Brandon Sebastian registered the Broncs (1-2-0) goal on a penalty kick in the 48th minute for Rider's lone goal of the match and Matt Perrella made seven saves in the loss.

Coming off a double-overtime 1-all result at Towson on Thursday, Mount St. Mary's took the early lead before regaining the lead midway through the second half and held on for its first win of the year. The Mount improved to 8-3-1 under head coach Rob Ryerson in the inaugural home game of the season.

With the score tied at 1, Steele tapped the ball back to Ockford and the sophomore rocketed the shot into the top of the netting to hand Mount St. Mary's a 2-1 lead at 64:07. Ockford, who had an assist in his freshman year, notched his first collegiate goal on the play while Steele recorded his first career point.

After the Mountaineers took the lead, the Broncs had a pair of great opportunities to score, but could not convert in the 67th minute. David Benavidez hit the cross bar at 66:21 and then Samuel Bryant took the rebound and knocked his shot off the right post eight seconds later. Matt Veltri had the only shot stopped by Steve in the game at 69:01.

Mount St. Mary's jumped out to an early 1-0 edge in the opening four minutes of the match. Hendrie crossed the ball to Wheeler to the middle, who found the twine for the first time this season at the 3:20 mark. Wheeler owns the Mount's Division I career goals mark and is moving up the ranks on the all-time list.

Early in the second half, Rider answered after a Mountaineer foul in the box gave Stebastian the chance for a penalty kick. Sebastian converted the opportunity for his second tally of the year and to knot the game at 1 at the 47:14 mark. The Mount was called for a red card on the play and had to play a man down for 14 minutes and four seconds when the Broncs had a player called for a red card to even the playing field the rest of the way and to set up Ockford's decisive score in the 65th minute.

The Mount returns to action on Friday at the Lafayette Tournament against the host Leopards. Game time is 7 p.m.