The Albertus Magnus men's soccer team is making its 15th-straight and 16th overall appearance in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament and improved to 13-13-4 all-time in GNAC Tournament play with a 1-0 win at second-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine on Sunday afternoon.
The Falcons handed the Monks just their second loss all season, while Albertus' record improved to 6-9-2 on the year.
As the seventh seed, the Falcons head to Johnson & Wales (R.I.) on Wednesday for a 4:00 p.m. match-up against the third-seeded Wildcats. JWU defeated Emmanuel College 3-0 on Sunday and is 13-1-5 on the year.
The Albertus men's soccer program is 4-3-2 all-time in GNAC Tournament semifinal contests dating back to 1996. The Falcons are 2-1 in semifinal match-ups dating back to 2010.
The Falcons are 1-2 all-time against Johnson & Wales in GNAC Tournament action and last faced the Wildcats in postseason play in 2005. That 2005 match-up was the only other semifinal tournament meeting between the two programs as JWU hosted the No. 3 seeded Falcons and defeated Albertus 5-1.
The other two meetings for the programs in tournament play came in 2003 and 1999. In the GNAC Final in 2003, JWU slipped past the Falcons 1-0, upsetting the top-seed Albertus Magnus College. In 1999, the Falcons won the quarterfinal match-up against the Wildcats 3-0 at home as the No. 2 seed.
Earlier this season, the Falcons and Wildcats battled to a scoreless draw in double-overtime in New Haven.
Albertus is led by freshman striker Alexis Garcia (West Haven, Conn.) with 15 points on six goals and three assists. Senior Ross Suleski (Amesbury, Mass.) has 12 points for the Falcons on four goals and four assists.
Donato Piroscafo (Naugatuck, Conn.) leads the Falcons in net with 87 saves and six shutouts.
JWU is led by O'Kyle Corridon with 22 points on eight goals and six assists. Ryan Dzierawski leads the Wildcats in goal as he has allowed just nine goals all season and has registered 73 saves and seven shutouts.
The winner of Wednesday's game will face the winner of No. 4 Norwich at No. 1 Lasell on Saturday, Nov. 9 at the higher remaining seed for the GNAC Championship title. The Lasers and the Cadets face off on Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in Boston at Lasell College.
Live stats and live video are available through JWU Athletics or by clicking here.
