Madison, NJ (November 1) – In its first MAC Freedom postseason game since the 2017 campaign, the fourth-seeded FDU-Florham men's soccer team advanced to the semifinal round on penalty kicks, 4-2, over fifth-seeded Wilkes University tonight on Robert T. Shields Field.
FDU-Florham (9-5-4) will now travel to top-seeded and #4/4 nationally-ranked Stevens Institute of Technology for the MAC Freedom Semifinals on Thursday evening at 7:00 pm. A full preview of that matchup along with links to live video, stats and tickets will be made available on Wednesday afternoon.
Wilkes (7-9-3) took advantage of an early mistake by FDU-Florham and capitalized with a goal from Cameron Feister just 2:20 into the game. The ball was played into the box and off deflected off the hands of FDU-Florham
Tiernan Grey (Staten Island, NY) directly to the foot of Feister, who buried the ball into the corner of the net for the early 1-0 lead.
FDU-Florham graduate student
Christian Vriones (Butler, NJ) had two great looks to tie the game prior to the break, but both chances were stopped by Wilkes keeper Nick Kinzler as the score stood at 1-0 in favor of Wilkes at the break.
Nine minutes into the second half, Vriones knotted the game at 1-1 as he took the ball into the box, juked a defender and buried the ball into the left corner of the net. As a team, FDU-Florham out shot Wilkes, 17-4, in the second half but could not find the game winner as the opening round playoff game went into overtime.
With under a minute to play in regulation, Wilkes nearly potted the game winner but Grey made an outstanding save after the ball was originally cleared off the line by FDU-Florham defender
Jack Montanile (Toms River, NJ).
Both teams got off just one shot apiece in each of the two overtime sessions as the contest was bound for penalty kicks.
In the first round of penalty kicks, Will Wagstaff converted for Wilkes and
Oliver Trujillo (Bridgewater, NJ) converted for FDU-Florham. Both shooters in the second round were also successful as Xavier Guerreiro made it for Wilkes and
Jonathan Shirley (Lincoln Park, NJ) made it for the Devils.
In round three, Nicholas Surgent's attempt for Wilkes was stopped on a diving save by Grey before Vriones capitalized and gave FDU-Florham a 3-2 lead. Matthew Meagher stepped to the dot for the Colonels and ripped it off the crossbar leaving FDU-Florham a chance to end it.
FDU-Florham first year
Mattia Di Assante Cupillo (Toms River, NJ) buried his penalty kick past Kinzler to push the Devils into the MAC Freedom Semifinals for the first time since 2017.
As a team, FDU-Florham out shot Wilkes, 24-13 (10-8 on goal), while the Colonels held a slim 3-2 edge in corner kicks. Grey made seven saves for the Devils, while Kinzler stopped the ball nine times for the visitors.
For the latest on FDU-Florham Athletics, follow the Devils via social media (@FDUDevils) on
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FDU-Florham is currently running a campaign in honor of former Devils men's basketball head coach, men's golf coach and athletic director Roger Kindel.
All donations will go directly towards funding a complete renovation of the basketball and volleyball court inside the Ferguson Recreation Center with his name dawned on both sides. If you are interested in reading more about the campaign and/or making a donation to the cause, please follow the link here: https://support.fdu.edu/athletics/devils/giving/roger-kindel
