ALBANY, N.Y. – Following three-straight games at home, the University at Albany men's soccer team heads back on the road with a visit to NJIT on Saturday.
 
Game Info
Saturday, October 22 at NJIT (7:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN3
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany is 1-5-1 on the road this season; NJIT is 2-1-1 at home
• UAlbany and NJIT split their two meetings last season
• UAlbany and NJIT rank seventh and sixth in the America East in scoring offense, respectively, and sixth and fifth in scoring defense
• Shafique Wilson ranks third in the America East in save percentage and saves per game

Scouting NJIT
NJIT is 4-5-4 on the season so far, but remains winless against America East opponents.  The Highlanders were UAlbany's opponent in the America East quarterfinals last season, a game in which NJIT claimed a 2-1 victory.  Most recently, NJIT ended a four-game winning streak, dispatching former America East opponent Hartford 4-0.  Three Highlanders have scored at least three goals, led by four-goal scorer Jose Del Valle.  UAlbany and NJIT have played four times in the Great Danes' Division I era, with the series tied 2-2-0.
 
Last Time vs. NJIT
November 6, 2021 | UAlbany finished third in the 2021 America East standings and hosted NJIT in the quarterfinal round of the league tournament.  The Great Danes had previously dispatched the Highlanders at home during the regular season, 2-1.  This time, the Highlanders returned the favor by the same margin.  NJIT found the back of the net just under three minutes before halftime, only for UAlbany's Bjarki Leosson to convert a penalty kick to lock the game at one at the break.  NJIT broke through one final time in the 58th minute to take the lead and ultimately secure the victory, holding UAlbany to just one shot in the second half.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany played in its final non-conference game of the 2022 regular season, hosting Colgate on the team's Senior Night.  Despite an aggressive start, the Great Danes fell into a lull in the first half, upon which the Raiders capitalized to take a 1-0 lead off of a free kick deep in UAlbany territory in the 36th minute.  After halftime, UAlbany regrouped to outshoot Colgate 10-4 in the second half, and scored an equalizer in the 71st minute when Neophytos Scottis found the back of the net off a setup from Tiago Dias redirecting a corner kick from Giuliano Lucca.  The game ended in a 1-1 tie.
 
Around the America East
Vermont and New Hampshire continue their long winning streaks, with the Catamounts' reaching 11 games and the Wildcats' reaching eight.  The two teams have created a small separation at the top of the conference standings with 12 points each.  UAlbany remains in third with seven points, just ahead of UMBC's six points.  The Great Danes hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Retrievers.  In fourth is Binghamton with five points, followed by NJIT with two points, UMass Lowell with one point, and Bryant with zero points.
 
Saturday's America East Games

• Bryant at UMass Lowell, 4:00 pm
• UAlbany at NJIT, 7:00 pm
• #10 Vermont at UMBC, 7:00 pm
• Binghamton at RV New Hampshire, 7:00 pm

Common Opponents

• Binghamton
  • UAlbany: 10/8 at Binghamton, T, 0-0
  • NJIT: 10/1 vs. Binghamton, T, 0-0
• New Hampshire
  • UAlbany: 10/14 vs. RV New Hampshire, L, 0-4
  • NJIT: 10/8 vs. New Hampshire, L, 0-1

Seniors
UAlbany honored the seven members of its 2022 senior class, Domenic Baumann, Vinicius Giannaccini, Giuliano Lucca, Pantelis Panteli, Sam Philip, Neophytos Scottis, and Julian Terris, ahead of the team's final non-conference game of the regular season, Colgate.  Since Philip, the class' longest-tenured player, arrived on campus in 2018, the class has gone 33-36-6 overall with a 15-15-2 against America East opponents.
 
Shutout
For three-straight games, and seven total halves, the men's soccer team did not concede a goal.  The Great Danes went 2-0-1 against UMBC, Bryant, and Binghamton, outscoring the three opponents 4-0.  In total, dating to the team's last goal conceded in the 86th minute at Rhode Island on September 20, until their next goal conceded, a penalty kick in the 66th minute against Army West Point on October 11, the Great Danes' shutout streak lasted 340 game minutes.
 
Rookie of the Week
Jackson Finn scored the game-winner against the America East's top-scoring team, UMBC, on the road in the team's conference opener, and earned his first career weekly award.  The Retrievers had scored eight more goals than any other America East squad, but the Great Danes held UMBC scoreless over their 90-minute match.  Finn broke the scoreless tie late in the game, collecting a rebound against an open net after teammates Saad Faiz and Domenic Baumann took back-to-back shots to draw UMBC goalkeeper Quantrell Jones out of position.
 
Hall of Fame Semifinalist
The most prolific scorer in UAlbany men's soccer history, Lee Tschantret, was named a semifinalist to the National Soccer Hall of Fame's 2023 Veteran Ballot.  Tschantret played at UAlbany from 1987-90, scoring a program-record that still stands today 51 goals.  He earned All-America honors in 1988 and 1989, and after his collegiate season enjoyed a 20-year professional career.
 
Associate
Rich Nassif was promoted to Associate Head Coach in 2022, his fifth season on the sidelines at UAlbany.  Nassif joined UAlbany in 2018 following his second stint on the coaching staff at his alma mater, Northwestern University.  Since joining the Great Danes' sidelines, the team has averaged nine wins per full season and qualified for two America East tournaments.  Some of the Great Danes biggest wins with Nassif are Vermont in 2018 and 2019, #14 New Hampshire in 2019, Villanova in 2021, and Penn this season.
 
U.S. Open Cup
Former UAlbany goalkeeper Danny Vitiello and his Sacramento Republic FC team advanced to the championship game of the U.S. Open Cup against Orlando City SC of the MLS.  Sacramento was the first team from outside the MLS to reach the title game since Charleston Battery played against D.C. United in 2008.  Vitiello and Sacramento defeated three MLS teams en route to the final, the San Jose Earthquakes, the L.A. Galaxy, and Sporting Kansas City.  In the latter game, the semifinal, Vitiello recorded the decisive save in the penalty kick shootout to advance Sacramento to the final.  Sacramento's magic run ended against Orlando City, falling 3-0.
 
From the Field
When Saad Faiz scored his first goal of the season, in the 24th minute of the Great Danes' sixth game of the year, at Rutgers, it was the team's first goal scored from the field of the 2022 season.  All three of the Great Danes' previous goals were scored on penalty kicks.  Faiz's goal ended a drought of just over 520 minutes of game time since their previous goal from the field, in the 44th minute of the 2021 America East quarterfinal against NJIT.
 
Defensive Player of the Week
Daniel Shannon recorded his first career shutout and victory as UAlbany's goalkeeper in the Great Danes' fifth game of the year when they hosted the Penn Quakers.  Shannon faced a total of 21 shots and made four saves to keep the Quakers off the board and hold the 1-0 lead to victory.  Shannon is UAlbany's first defensive player of the week since former teammate Carlos Tofern was named on September 7, 2021.
 
Three-for-Three
Through five games, UAlbany scored three goals on the 2022 season.  Each goal came via penalty kick, first in the season opener against Boston University and second at Marist at the end of a three-game road swing.  Pantelis Panteli took each penalty kick for the Great Danes, making Panteli accountable for all UAlbany scoring through the early part of the season.  In the fifth game of the season, Domenic Baumann stepped in for Panteli on the Great Danes' PK against Penn and successfully converted the attempt, making UAlbany 3-3 on PKs on the season season.  Since then, the team added another PK, and are a perfect 4-4.
 
International Flavor
Continuing a tradition within the UAlbany men's soccer program under head coach Trevor Gorman, the 2022 Great Danes feature a sizeable international roster.  Thirteen countries are represented among UAlbany's ranks this season: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Germany, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.
 
New Faces
UAlbany welcomes 16 new players to the roster for the 2022 season, replacing 15 departures and bringing the team roster to a total of 30.  Though the Great Danes return second-leading scorer Andrew Weiner from last year, the members of the new class will fill in for the production left behind by the departures of the first, third, and fourth-leading scorers, a total of six goals and 11 assists.
 
Picked Fourth
After finishing the 2021 regular season third in the America East standings, the Great Danes were picked to finish fourth in the league's 2022 preseason coaches' poll.  Behind unanimous favorite New Hampshire, picked to win the league for the fourth-straight season, the distribution tightened up.  Defending tournament champion Vermont was picked second just two points ahead of third-pick UMBC, and five points ahead of UAlbany.  NJIT was picked fifth, ahead of Binghamton and UMass Lowell in a tie for sixth, with conference newcomer Bryant picked eighth.
 
Game Over
Adopted starting this season, regular-season matches will no longer go into extra time when tied at the conclusion of regulation.  The regular-seasons games will conclude after 90 minutes of play.  Overtime and shootouts will return starting in the postseason.
 
Next: UAlbany visits UMass Lowell on October 28.