ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany continues its late three-game road swing by returning to America East competition to take on #24 Bryant and the Bulldog's NCAA-leading defense.
 
Game Info
October 21, 2023 at #24 Bryant (7:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN+ | Int'l Stream | Game Notes
 
Leading the Pack

• UAlbany is 0-6-1 on the road this season; Bryant is 4-1-0 at home
• Bryant leads the America East in scoring offense; UAlbany ranks seventh
• Bryant leads the America East in scoring defense; UAlbany ranks fourth
• Bryant leads the NCAA in scoring defense, allowing only three goals in 14 games, and has recorded 11 shutouts

Scouting Bryant
The Bulldogs are the top defensive team in the country in 2023, recording 11 shutouts in 14 games while only allowing three goals, conceding single goals against #17 Vermont (the team's lone defeat, New Hampshire, and Dartmouth.  The Bulldogs did not allow a goal for its first seven games of the season.  The team has already accumulated 11 victories, tied for second-most in the country with Wake Forest and Cal St. Fullerton, and trailing only top-ranked Marshall's 12.  The Bulldogs have broken into the United Soccer Coaches national rankings at #24.  Last season, Bryant went 3-10-1 overall, and 0-6-1 against conference opponents as first-year members of the America East.  The Bulldogs underwent a coaching change during the offseason, bringing on Ruben Resendes from Division II Franklin Pierce after he had led the Ravens to the 2022 Division II national title.  Resendes is 91-8-6 in his career as a head coach.  On the field, Bryant boasts five players who have scored three or more goals, led by junior forward Marc Pitarch Bayot's six.  Goalkeeper Antreas Hadjigavriel has started every game for the Bulldogs this season, allowing 0.21 goals per game with a save rate of .900.  The Great Danes and the Bulldogs have played twice during UAlbany's Division I era, with UAlbany leading the series 2-0-0 behind two lopsided victories, 4-0 in 2008 and 3-0 in 2022.
 
Last Time vs. Bryant
October 1, 2022 | UAlbany hosted America East newcomer Bryant for the first time as conference opponents on the team's 2022 Alumni night where they honored 19 former Great Danes on the field at halftime.  UAlbany and Bryant played to a scoreless draw at halftime before UAlbany's offense broke through with three second-half goals, starting first with Andrew Weiner scoring unassisted in the 56th minute to break the tie.  Tiago Dias added a second goal in the 58th minute, and Saad Faiz capped off scoring in the 70th.  UAlbany outshot Bryant 15-5 overall.
 
Last Time Out
The Great Danes kicked off a three-game road swing, their last of the 2023 regular season, by visiting their final nonconference opponent of the year, Colgate.  The Raiders were the fourth Patriot League team on UAlbany's 2023 schedule.  Coming off a big 2-0 victory over UMass Lowell, the Great Danes stumbled against Colgate, conceding their fifth penalty kick of the season, and ultimately falling against the Raiders 1-0.  Though the Great Danes created chances, offense came at a premium for both teams, with only 14 shots combined.  UAlbany's defense held Colgate without a shot in the second half.
 
Around the America East
The America East now boasts three teams holding United Soccer Coaches Top-25 national rankings: #16 Vermont, #19 New Hampshire, and #24 Bryant.  Vermont leads the conference standings with nine points, while defending champion New Hampshire, after drawing each of its first three games against conference opponents, secured its first win in conference for six points.  Between the two, UMBC and NJIT are tied for second with seven points.  Bryant still holds the highest win total in the league, 11, and are tied with Binghamton with five points.  By virtue of defeating UMass Lowell, the Great Danes have four points, followed by the River Hawks with zero.
 
Saturday's America East Games

• UMBC at #16 Vermont, 1:00 pm
• Binghamton at UMass Lowell, 3:00 pm
• NJIT at #19 New Hampshire, 6:00 pm
• UAlbany at #24 Bryant, 7:00 pm

Common Opponents

• UMBC
  • UAlbany: 9/23 vs. UMBC, L, 1-2
  • Bryant: 9/30 at UMBC, T, 1-1
• New Hampshire
  • UAlbany: 9/29 at #24 New Hampshire, T, 0-0
  • Bryant: 10/7 at New Hampshire, T, 1-1

USL Championship Playoffs
Two former Great Danes, Danny Vitiello and Daniel Krutzen, have seen their respective teams, Sacramento Republic FC and Phoenix Rising FC, qualify for the 2023 USL Championship postseason.  Sacramento is the top seed in the west, behind Vitiello's Golden Glove Award-winning season in net, while Krutzen's Phoenix Rising earned the West's six-seed.  The pair would meet in the Western Conference finals, should both teams advance that far.
 
Golden Glove
For the second time in his career, former UAlbany goalkeeper Danny Vitiello won the USL Championship Golden Glove award, recognizing the league's most outstanding goalkeeper each season.  Previously winning the award in 2020 as a member of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Vitiello recorded a goals-against average of 0.83 with 11 shutouts to anchor Sacramento Republic FC's first-place Western Conference finish in 2023.  His save percentage of .762 in 30 appearance this season led the league's eligible goalkeepers.
 
500
On October 14, 2023, the University at Albany men's soccer program recorded its 500th victory in history.  The program began in 1950, and reclassified to Division II in 1995, and to Division I in 1999.  The victory came against one of the Great Danes newest, yet staunchest, rivals, UMass Lowell, 2-0 in Albany.
 
Dangerous Strikes
Through the Great Danes' first eight games, the team had scored 12 goals.  Five of their previou seven had come on either free kicks or corner kicks, starting with three such goals against Marist.  So far, the Great Danes have scored four goals off corner kicks alone.
 
Helping Hand II
Alex Pechacek recorded his first assist of the season in the Great Danes' fifth game, at home against Marist.  Pechacek finished the game with three assists, the second-most in a single game in Division I program history.  Including the game against Marist, Pechacek has assisted on six of UAlbany's seven goals scored, and has recorded at least one assist in three of four games.
 
First Halves
Until Penn scored in the 11th minute in the Great Danes' seventh game of the season, UAlbany had held its first six opponents scoreless in the first half of each game.  Conversely, UAlbany had scored four goals in first halves this season.
 
At the Top
In Week 3 of the United Soccer Coaches regional rankings, America East institutions accounted for each of the top four, and five of the top 10, spots in the Northeast Poll.  Vermont, New Hampshire, both nationally ranked, took the top two spots, followed by UMBC and undefeated and untied Bryant.  UAlbany landed seventh out of 10, behind Cornell and LIU.
 
Defensive Player of the Week
Tiago Dias' two-goal performance, including the game-winner, earned his first career America East Defensive Player of the Week honor.  In scoring twice, first in the 17th minute and next in the 54th, Dias powered the Great Danes to victory over Marist, and doubled his career goals total.
 
Helping Hand
Graduate midfielder Alex Pechacek recorded an assist on all three UAlbany goals against Marist.  The three assists were the second-most in a single game in the program's Division I history, ranking only behind Daniel Krutzen's four at American University during the 2018 season.  No other player in the program's Division I era had recorded three assists in a game.
 
From the Back
All three of UAlbany's goals against Marist came from the defensive line, and specifically center backs Tiago Dias and Santiago Frias.  Dias scored the first two goals of the game, in the 17th and 54th minutes, and Frias added one in the 57th.  All three goals were scored on set pieces, with midfielder Alex Pechacek assisting on each.
 
Shutting Out
After earning shutouts in back-to-back games early in the 2023 season, the UAlbany men's soccer team had recorded seven shutouts in its previous 10 games dating back to the 2022 season.  Since playing Colgate to a 1-1 tie on October 18, 2022, UAlbany had allowed just six goals in 11 games, including two shutouts in 10 days against then #8-ranked Vermont.  UAlbany's shutout streak reached a peak of 505 consecutive minutes between allowing goals to Colgate and in the 2022 America East title game against #22 New Hampshire.
 
Without Borders
Including the United States and Canada, the 2023 men's soccer roster features 29 players representing 13 different countries.  In total, 21 players have joined the team from outside the United States.
 
New Faces
The Great Danes' roster of 29 players features 13 new faces.  Three of the 13 are freshmen, while the remaining 10 have transferred into UAlbany from their previous institutions.  The transfers hail from such programs as Akron, South Florida, and defending national champion Syracuse, among others.
 
Picked Third
After a run to the America East title game in 2022, the Great Danes were picked to finish in a tie for third in the 2023 America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.  They shared their point total of 34 with UMBC, and narrowly edging the Retrievers by garnering one first-place vote.
 
Schedule Strength
Including defending national champion and preseason #1 Syracuse, five of the Great Danes 17 opponents in 2023 hold preseason rankings in the United Soccer Coaches national poll.  Behind the Orange, the Great Danes will play games against #12 Vermont, #20 Cornell, #23 New Hampshire, and #25 Penn.
 
Phoenix Rising
Former UAlbany defender Daniel Krutzen '18 signed a deal in January with Phoenix Rising FC of the USL Championship, the second-tier league in the United States.  Krutzen made the move after playing four years in the Canadian Premier League for Forge FC, winning three league titles.
 
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.
 
U.S. Open Cup
Former UAlbany goalkeeper Danny Vitiello and his Sacramento Republic FC team advanced to the championship game of the 2022 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.
 
Next: UAlbany visits #16 Vermont on October 27.