Men's Soccer | 11/9/2015 2:43:00 PM
Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State men's soccer team will host the first and second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship. The announcement was made during the Selection Show on NCAA.com Monday afternoon.
The Red Hawks (18-2-1) received one of the 19 at-large bids to the field of 63 teams and faces Daniel Webster (18-3) in the first round on Saturday, November 14. Salisbury University and defending national champion Tufts University battle in the other first round matchup with the winners moving on to the second round on Sunday, November 15.
Montclair is making its 10
th straight and 15th overall appearance in the Division III Tournament. MSU made three trips to the College Division Tournament in 1968, 1969 and 1972. Montclair State is 18-17-1 overall in those previous 18 appearances, including a 16-14-1 mark in its Division III berths.
MSU will be looking to continue its recent run of success in the national tournament. Four years ago Montclair reached the national semifinals in San Antonio, TX and in 2012 came within one victory of a return trip to the Final Four falling in the Sectional Final at Trinity University (TX). In 2013, Montclair made its third consecutive "Elite 8" as it fell to Rutgers-Camden, 2-1. The Red Hawks have made six "Sweet 16" appearances in its history reaching the "Elite 8" four times.
The Red Hawks enter the tournament unbeaten in its last six contests, including five victories. The lone non-win during that time came on Saturday as MSU played to a scoreless draw with Rutgers-Camden in a thrilling NJAC Championship Game. The Scarlet Raptors prevailed in seven rounds of penalty kicks, 5-4.
Junior
MIKE OLLA leads a dynamic Montclair State offense that has scored 74 goals in 21 games this season. Eight players have scored 10 more points with three topping over 20 points. Olla heads that list with 27 points on a team-best 13 goals. Senior
DAMIAN BZIUKIEWICZ is next at 10 goals and 26 points with sophomore
KYLE GOODWIN (23 points) scoring nine times. Freshmen
MATT HENDRICKSON (10 goals) and
RAFAEL TERCI (four goals) are next at 21 and 18 points, respectively. Terci leads MSU with 10 assists.
AARON ROSE and
KAZARI TROUGHT each have 15 points (6 goals apiece) with freshman
KEVIN SIMEK rounding out the group at 13 points including five goals. Freshman
MIKE SAALFRANK has started 19 games in goal and sports a 0.90 GAA along with 68 saves and five shutouts. Saalfrank had 14 saves in the two NJAC Tournament contests last week.
Olla, Saalfrank, Terci and Goodwin were all named to the NJAC All-Conference Team last week in addition to Bziukiewicz who took home his second straight Midfielder of the Year accolade.
Daniel Webster is making its third NCAA appearance overall and second straight after capturing their second New England Collegiate Conference title last Sunday over Newbury in a 1-0 victory. It was the fourth league title in the last seven years for the Eagles who beat Regis 1-0 in the semifinals.
The Eagles are in the midst of a program record 16-game win streak dating back to September 16
th and the squad has recorded 11 shutouts during that span. DWC swept the NECC's major awards with junior striker Ian Hutchinson earning Player of the Year honors, Sean Hamilton picking up his second straight Goalkeeper of the Year honor, Joseano (Joe) Tavares winning the league's top rookie award, and Matt Correia being selected as the NECC's Coach of the Year.
Hutchinson and Marcos Vieira Filho lead the team with 11 goals apiece as the two along with Tavares have each eclipsed the 20-point mark this season. Hamilton currently sports a 0.55 goals against average with 10 shutouts.
The Red Hawks have never faced any of the three opponents in this weekend's four-team pod.
