NEWTON, Mass. – The Mount Ida College men's soccer team has won nine straight games in the home confines of Alumni Field. If they are able to make it ten wins in a row by beating Albertus Magnus on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 pm, they will book their first ever appearance in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship game.
The #2 seeded Mustangs will host the sixth seeded Falcons in the GNAC semifinals, Mount Ida's second straight trip to the final four and their third semifinals appearance since joining the GNAC in 2007.
On the line is a trip to the GNAC championship game, against the winner of the other semifinal, either #4 Norwich or top-seeded defending champions, Johnson & Wales.
HOW THEY GOT THERE
The Mustangs (12-5-1, 7-1-1 GNAC) pulled out another overtime win, their fourth of the year, to beat rivals Lasell College 2-1 in their quarterfinal matchup. Senior Carlos Martinez (Chelsea, Mass.) scored both of Mount Ida's goals, including the game-winner with 2:47 remaining in the first overtime when he took a ball over the top from junior defender Shawn Bernardo (Peabody, Mass.). Though the Lasers thought Martinez was offsides, the flag stayed down and he was able to beat the goalie one v one for his eighth goal of the season and the 26th of his career, tying him for the Mount Ida NCAA program record.
The Falcons (10-8, 4-5 GNAC) came out of the gate with four straight wins to start the season, and earned the #6 seed in the conference tournament and an away game with Saint Joseph's Maine. Avenging a regular season 3-0 loss to the Monks, the Falcons came from a 1-0 halftime deficit to upset Saint Joseph's 2-1 in overtime. Alex Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal halfway through the first extra period after Matt Mueller (Cheshire, Conn.) had scored in the 70th minute to knot the game at a goal apiece. Sophomore goalie Griffin Volta (Orange, Conn.) made six saves to improve to 7-5 on the year for the Falcons.
HEAD TO HEAD
A rematch of last year's GNAC quarterfinal, won by the Mustangs 2-1, this is the 15th career meeting between the two squads, with the Falcons holding a 7-5-2 advantage.
Albertus was unbeaten in the series since 2009 coming into last year's playoff game, including a 2-0 win in New Haven by the Falcons in a 2011 GNAC quarterfinal, but Mount Ida has now won two straight meetings after a 2-1 victory in Newton earlier this year. In that game, Mount Ida jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes thanks to Martinez and Billy Zeba (Lexington Park, Md.), then held off a barrage of Albertus Falcons attacks (13-2 shots in the second half) and allowed just a Justyn Broderick (Orange, Conn.) goal to escape with the win.
In that game, Mustang sophomore goalie Riley Ford (Guilderland, N.Y.) stopped penalty kicks in both halves that could have swung the momentum and the score of the game in favor of the visiting Falcons.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Martinez will look to break the program's NCAA record with his 27th career goal against the Falcons, while leading scorer freshman Juan Brenes (Santo Domingo, D.R.), has nine goals this year, but has been held off the scoresheet for the last three games.
Volta has seen the majority of work between the pipes, posting a goals against average of 1.23 with 44 saves. Freshman Joe Russo (North Haven, Conn.) has a 3-3 record and two shutouts in six starts this year.
HOW TO WATCH
Wednesday's semifinal matchup will have a live video feed and live stats and you can watch the game online and follow all stats at the following links.
Video: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/mountida/
Live Stats: http://www.mountidamustangs.com/sports/msoc/2015-16/boxscores/20151104_9xrh.xml
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Quarterfinals - Sunday, November 1
Game 1: #1 Johnson & Wales 9, #8 Suffolk 0
Game 2: #4 Norwich 1, #5 Emmanuel 0
Game 3: #6 Albertus Magnus 2, #3 Saint Joseph's of Maine (OT) 1
Game 4: #2 Mount Ida 1, #7 Lasell 0 (OT)
Semifinals - Wednesday, November 4
Game 5: #4 Norwich at #1 Johnson & Wales - 5:00 p.m.
Game 6: #6 Albertus Magnus at #2 Mount Ida - 3:30 p.m.
Championship - Saturday, November 7
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner