Rider University Mens Soccer Head Coach Charlie Inverso announced the hiring of Mark Pratico II 13 as an assistant coach for the 2017 season. Pratico is a graduate of Notre Dame High School where he was an All-County player for the Irish. He also played at Mercer County CC and Rider University under Coaches Inverso and Larry Povia. He served for four years as the top assistant for Tigana Dalce at nationally-ranked Mercer County CC. He also has extensive experience and is a very well-known area youth development coach. "Mark is a really intelligent guy who lives soccer 24 hours a day, said Inverso. He has an amazing work ethic and his communication skills are tremendous. He is going to be very successful coach and I can't tell you how lucky we are to have him."   While at Mercer, the Vikings won back-to-back Region XIX conference titles in 2014 and 2015. The Vikings finished the 2015 season unbeaten at 18-0-3 and finished ranked No. 8 in the NJCAA Division 1 poll. During his four years, the Vikings earned 16 All-Conference selections and one All-American. Pratico also spent four years coaching at Mercer FC and currently works for PDA Hibernian. He completed his B.A. in Secondary Education/English and his M.A. in Organizational Leadership, both at Rider University. Pratico holds the NSCAA Premier and Advanced National Diplomas.