NEWTON, Mass. – Fifth seeded Mount Ida College will travel to New Haven, Connecticut on Saturday afternoon to meet #4 Albertus Magnus in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's soccer tournament.
The Mustangs (8-8-1, 4-4-1 GNAC) are making their fourth consecutive appearance in the GNAC tournament and their seventh trip in their eight years since joining the conference. The Falcons (11-5-2, 5-3-1 GNAC), two years removed from a GNAC title and a trip to the NCAA tournament, will be looking for their fifth consecutive appearance in the conference semifinals.
Head Coach Joe Campbell, in his fifth season at the helm, believes his Mustangs can take the next step themselves and earn a place in the final four, a feat Mount Ida was only able to accomplish in 2008.
It has been an up and down season for the Mustang's squad, who have four times won back-to-back games, but have been unable to string three consecutive wins together. However, they have closed out their GNAC schedule with a strong two games, clinching a spot in the conference tournament last Wednesday by beating Saint Joseph's (ME) in their home finale, then shutting out Norwich 1-0 on Saturday for their first ever win in Northfield, Vt., improving their seeding ahead of next weekend's tournament.
Albertus were unbeaten in their first six games of the season and in nine of their first ten contests (7-1-2) and were among the leaders in the conference until they scuffled towards the end of their schedule, getting shutout in back to back road games at Anna Maria and Johnson & Wales. The Falcons solidified their fourth seed with a 4-0 win over Suffolk in their final regular season home game.
A 7-1-2 home record for Albertus Magnus includes the Mustang's regular season visit this year, a 1-0 victory for the Falcons in which Matt Meuller scored the only goal in the 34th minute. Adam Miedzinski made seven saves to record his only shutout of the year, while Mat Pils (Monroe, Conn.) made eleven stops in the loss.
This is the 13th meeting between the two programs, and history favors the Falcons, who hold a 7-3-2 edge between the sides. They played to a 1-1 tie last year in Newton, but Mount Ida is 0-4-1 in New Haven against the Falcons, and their last victory against Albertus came in 2009 (3-2).
These two squads have met once in the postseason, in the same round of the 2011 tournament, in which top seeded Albertus collected a 2-0 home victory.
Mount Ida will have to deal with a tandem of dangerous sophomores in Alexis Garcia, who leads the Falcons, and the conference, with 13 goals and 30 points and Alex Zapata, who has 10 assists to lead the league, along with 4 goals. The Falcons have scored 44 goals this year and have a team goals-against average of 1.07, with six shutouts, five of them by freshman Griffin Volta.
On the Mustang's side, Pils has five shutouts and a 1.34 goals against average of his own, while sophomore Carlos Martinez (Chelsea, Mass.) is the playmaker with six goals and five assists. Sophomore Tyler Grothusen (Ramsey, N.J.) and senior Michael Templeton (Charlestown, N.H.) have four goals apiece.
The teams will kick-off at 1:30 pm in New Haven, with live stats available on mountidamustangs.com. Live video of the game is also scheduled to be available, pending technical capabilities at the field.
The winner of this quarterfinal matchup will meet the winner of the game in Providence, R.I. between top-seeded Johnson & Wales and #8 St. Joseph's College of Maine. The other quarterfinals see #2 Norwich host #7 Suffolk, and #3 Lasell welcome in #6 Emmanuel.
Semifinals are set for Tuesday, November 4th.