Men's Soccer | 10/26/2017 2:31:00 PM
Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State men's soccer team will begin defense of its conference crown on Saturday as the Red Hawks host local rival William Paterson at 6:00 pm in the first round of the 2017 NJAC Men's Soccer Championship.
Tickets for the contest at MSU Soccer Park are $5.00 for general admission and $2.00 for children, seniors and students.
Separated by just nine miles, the Red Hawks (12-6-1) and Pioneers meet for the 62
nd time overall but only the second in postseason play. Montclair won both prior games, 1-0 in the 2008 NJAC semifinals and 2-0 three years later in the same round. MSU holds a 34-15-12 lead in the all-time series which includes a 3-1 victory against WPU at MSU Soccer Park back on October 11.
Montclair's
DIMITRI MATARAS and William Paterson's JP Gonzales traded early goals in the first half as the teams headed to the break knotted at 1-1. The Red Hawks'
KEVIN SIMEK snapped the tie 29 seconds into the second half with senior
MIKE TARANTO scored in the 65
th minute for the final margin.
The Pioneers come into the conference tournament at 10-5-3 and are in the NJAC Tournament for the first time since 2014. Cameron Allen leads WPU in scoring with 10 goals and two assists while Gonzales and Kyle Adams have found the back of the net seven times apiece. Darwin Cruz and Dante Petrocelli have 11 combined goals for William Paterson, which is averaging 2.72 goals per contest. Kyle Quigley and Tim Morris give WPU a solid 1-2 punch in goal.
Montclair State answers with a solid offensive attack that averaged 3.16 goals per game and features three players with 20 more points with two more in double digits. Taranto heads that list with 11 goals and 25 points with junior
RAFAEL TERCI added 10 goals and four assists. Freshman
CHAZ BURNETT (9 goals, 6 assists) is tied with Terci for second on the team with 24 points. Junior
KEVIN SIMEK and Freshman
DEVAUGHN FOSTER round out the scoring with 14 and 11 points respectively. Junior
MIKE SAALFRANK has recorded six shutout this season and has a 1.29 goals against average along with 72 saves.
MSU is making its 15
th appearance in the NJAC Championship posting a 17-6-2 record since the inception of the tournament in 1999. Included in that record is a run of 10 victories in a row from 2006-2009 when the Red Hawks claimed five consecutive crowns. Montclair State added another in 2014 before its Cinderella-like run last year when it won the tournament as the No. 5 seed winning three road games, including victories at top-seeded Rutgers-Newark in the semifinals and a 3-0 win at No. 2 seed Rowan in the title game.
The advancing team moves on to the semifinals at No. 2 seed Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday, November 1.
