New Haven, Conn. – The No. 6 seed Albertus Magnus College men's soccer team travels to face No. 2 seed Mount Ida this afternoon, November 4, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Semifinals at 3:30 p.m. at Alumni Field in Newton, Massachusetts.
The winner of the contest advances to the GNAC Championship to face the winner of the No. 1 Johnson & Wales and No. 4 Norwich showdown later this evening.
Entering the tilt, the Falcons are 10-8 on the year and coming off a thrilling, 2-1 come-from-behind win at Saint Joseph's (Me.) last weekend in the GNAC Quarterfinals. In the victory, junior midfielder Alex Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal in overtime. Classmate Matt Mueller (Cheshire, Conn.) knotted the match at one with his fourth goal of the season in the 70th minute. Between the pipes, sophomore goalkeeper Griffin Volta (Orange, Conn.) made six saves to earn his seventh victory of the season for Albertus Magnus and on Monday he was honored as the GNAC Goalkeeper of the Week thanks to his strong performance.
Earlier this season, Mount Ida scored a 2-1 over the Falcons at home. The Mustangs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes of action thanks to goals from senior Carlos Martinez and Billy Zeba, then held off a barrage of Albertus scoring threats --the visitors held a 13-2 advantage in shots in the second half-- and allowed just a Justyn Broderick (Orange, Conn.) goal to escape with the win. In the contest, Mount Ida goalkeeper Riley Ford stopped penalty kicks in both halves that could have swung the momentum and the score of the game in favor of the Falcons.
Albertus Magnus leads the all-time series 7-5-2, but the Mustangs have won two straight one-goal tilts against the Falcons. The two squads have split their GNAC Tournament meetings, with Mount Ida scoring a 2-1 victory in last year's opening round.
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