NEW HAVEN, Conn. - After a thrilling Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) tournament quarterfinals win on Saturday, the Albertus Magnus College men's soccer team turns its attention to Johnson and Wales University (JWU) for a semifinals matchup on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Celentano Field.

The No. 2 Falcons find themselves in the semifinals thanks to a game-winning header in the 100th minute from Morgan Stone (Wallingford, Conn.) in their matchup against No. 7 Rivier in the quarterfinals. Lorenzo Lauria (New Haven, Conn.) scored the opening goal for the Falcons in the 28th minute.

Albertus will be looking for its third GNAC title in program history, as the Falcons won in 1996 and 2012. It is the first time since 2015 the Falcons have reached the GNAC Semifinals. In that same season, the Falcons advanced to the championship game, which they lost to JWU, 1-0.

The No. 3 Wildcats are the defending GNAC Champions and have won 10 conference championships. They are 14-2-3 overall and were tied with Albertus and the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), going 10-1-3 in GNAC play.

JWU also needed overtime to advance to the semifinals, defeating No. 6 Anna Maria, 3-2 after a goal from Bruno Teixeira in the 97th minute. The goal came after Anna Maria tied the game in the 89th minute. 

This will be the fourth time since 2013 Albertus and JWU have met in the GNAC Tournament. They have also met twice in the GNAC Championship (2003, 2015) with JWU winning both matches.

The Last Time They Met

The two teams played each other to an exciting 1-1 draw on October 15 at Celentano Field. The Wildcats scored early in the second half on a goal from Aidan Bagley before Dorian Wilczynski (Bristol, Conn.) scored in the 81st minute to tie it for the Falcons on an assist from Lauria. BOX SCORE

No. 2 ALBERTUS SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATISTICS

• Lauria, the team's leading scorer with 10 goals, has been on a tear, scoring five goals over his last three games.

• Johan Stagnaro (East Hartford, Conn.), who assisted on the game-winning goal against Rivier on a corner kick, leads the team with six assists. Four of those assists came off corner kicks.

• The Falcons are tied with JWU for third in shutouts in the GNAC this season. Five of those shutouts came from David Lucero (East Haven, Conn.) who is  9-3-4 this season in goal.

• The Falcons have scored four game-tying or game-winning goals in the final ten minutes and overtime this season.

No. 3 JWU SCHEDULE | ROSTER | STATISTICS

• Bagley is the reigning GNAC Offensive Player of the Year and is currently tied for second in goals with 11 and is third in points in the GNAC with 27. He has scored in three straight games and four of his last five.

• Conner Elliott has six goals and five assists on the season for JWU and has three game-winners on the season, including one in the team's regular season finale against Saint Joseph's College of Maine in a 2-1 win on October 26.

• JWU has allowed just 17 goals on the season, an average of 0.89 per game, which is best in the GNAC.

• Declan Caster is 10-2-3 in net for JWU and has four shutouts on the season.