Madison, N.J. (November 17)- The fourth-seeded FDU-Florham men's soccer team travels to Reading, Pa. to match up with host and top-seeded Alvernia in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III semifinals on Saturday, November 18 at 11:00 am.

This will be the first time in history that these two teams face off against each other.

Scouting the Devils

The Devils earned the fourth seed in the ECAC Tournament and faced off against fifth-seeded New Jersey City in the lone matchup in pod 4 last Saturday. The Devils and the Gothic Knights fought tooth and nail all the way to penalty kicks where the Devils advanced to the semifinals, 3-1 after a 3-3 tie. In that period, goalkeeper Anthony Petrucci (West Orange, N.J.) came up big with saves on three of his four shots faced in penalty kicks. Offensively, the Devils were led by Drilon Toska (Lincoln Park, N.J.) who scored two goals in the match, one that was assisted by Oliver Trujillo (Bridgewater, N.J.). Ryan Maguire (Toms River, N.J.) found the other goal in regulation on a rebound shot from Faizan Arshad (Boonton, N.J.). In the penalty kick period, Jonathan Shirley (Lincoln Park, N.J.), O. Trujillo, and Diego Trujillo (Bridgewater, N.J.) all hit their penalty kicks to send the Devils to the semifinals.

FDU-Florham is led by Head Coach Keith O'Connor who entered his fifth season as the Men's Soccer Coach for the Devils. He has posted an overall record of 34-25-16 as the Devils Head Coach.

Offensively, Fairleigh Dickinson are a well-rounded unit that saw four players score 5+ goals during the regular season. Diego Trujillo stands out as the first team All-MAC Freedom selection from the FDU-Florham team. He ranked second in the conference in shots (52) and shots on goal (24). The sophomore midfielder sunk five goals and assisted three for a total of 13 points on the season. Drilon Toska led the team in goals with six (tied for second best in the MAC Freedom) as well assisting a goal to match Diego's 13-point season total. Oliver Trujillo was the team's assist and points leader with five assists on the year that was also tied for third best in the MAC Freedom and totaled 16 points which was tied for the fourth best mark in their league. Irfan Kermalli (Parsippany, N.J.) is also a threat to score as he notched five goals on the season to go along with four assists for a total of 14 points which was the sixth best mark in their conference.

Defensively, FDU-Florham is led by the impressive goalkeeping ability of second team All-MAC Freedom selection, Anthony Petrucci. Petrucci totaled a second-best league total 73 saves on the season (4.06 saves per game), the third-best goals against average with a 1.106 and the third-best shutout mark with four on the season. The defense is also anchored with a great back line of All-MAC honorable mention honoree Jack Montanile (Toms River, N.J.), Faizan Arshad and Yariel Parapi (North Bergan, N.J.). The group helped hold their opponents to only 19 goals and held them to an average of 1.12 goals per game.
 
Scouting the Golden Wolves

Alvernia earned the top seed in the 2023 ECAC Division III Men's soccer Tournament when they finished the season 10-7-1. The Golden Wolves got a first game bye in pod one and eventually faced off with eighth seeded Saint Elizabeth, who they defeated 4-0 en route to the ECAC Semifinals. In the matchup, Connor Kraycik broke the Alvernia men's soccer single-game record for goals as he fired in four to help the Golden Wolves advance.

The Alvernia men's soccer program is led by Head Coach Casey Moore, who has been at the helm of the team since 2008 and is the all-time leader in wins at the HC position in school history with 133 wins since taking over.

The team managed to finish second on the other side of the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) in the Commonwealth division, but fell in the first round of the playoffs to Widener, 2-1

Offensively, Alvernia has a good trio of goal scorers in Kraycik (9), Ryan Cogill (8) and Gabe Wunderlich (7), who finished fifth, sixth and seventh in the MAC Commonwealth in goals respectively. Cogill lead their league in assists with eight on the year and fourth in points with 24. Wunderlich was selected to the All-MAC Commonwealth first team.

Defensively, The Golden Wolves are fore fronted by the presence of first team All-MAC Commonwealth goalkeeper Evan Solley, who made 96 saves on the year, had a save percentage of .793, posted a 1.36 goals against average, won all 11 games this year for Alvernia in goal and pitched six shutouts. Solley is assisted defensively by first team league defender Nick Wilson who helped contribute to the 1.32 goals against average the team allowed this season, which was the third best mark in the Commonwealth.

The winner of that semifinal game will advance to the finals the next day against the winner of the semifinal matchup between second-seeded Penn State Behrend and sixth-seeded Goucher. The Sunday Championship game will be played at 12:00 pm.

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