Madison, N.J. (November 15)- The sixth-seeded FDU-Florham men's soccer team matches up with third-seeded Rutgers-Newark in the first round of the 2024 ECAC Division III Men's Soccer Championship Tournament on Saturday, November 16. The game will be played at Rutgers Newark at 12:00 pm.

This will be the seventh time since that these two programs have faced since 2011, and the first since 2017. The Devils will look to take their first win against the Scarlet Raiders in program history, as they are currently 0-7 heading into Saturday's match.

 
Scouting the Devils
FDU-Florham improved overall from last year, earning an overall record of 12-7-1. While their conference record of 2-5-0 wasn't quite what they wanted from this season, they excelled in their non-conference matchups, going 10-2-1. The Devils didn't have many non-conference opportunities on the road, but they made the most of it, going 2-1-1.

The Devils are led by Head Coach Keith O'Connor who entered his sixth season as the Men's Soccer Coach at FDU-Florham. He has posted an overall record of 45-32-17 as the Devils Head Coach.

In Net, the Devils split time with their goalkeepers between Anthony Petrucci (West Orange, NJ) and Victor Ciach (Ringwood, NJ). Petrucci earned a save percentage of .822 and a goals against average of 0.82 when he saw play this season. Ciach filled in nicely when Petrucci was unable to play, earning 46 saves and a goals against average of 1.72.

Helping them out on the backline this season was the defensive trio of Jack Montanile (Toms River, NJ), Jake Nagle (Toms River, NJ) and Dean Ibraimi (Wayne, NJ), who all contributed in stopping shots from getting to the net for the Devils this season.

In the midfield, the Devils had star performances from a multitude of players. Irfan Kermalli (Parsippany, NJ) led the effort for FDU-Florham, racking up six goals and three assists this season. Joining him in the midfield is Ferid Zaku (Wayne, NJ) and Jonathan Shirley (Lincoln Park, NJ), who both performed very well this season as well.

The Devils attack was led by the 2024 MAC Freedom First Team Member, Drilon Toska (Lincoln Park, NJ). In his senior season for FDU-Florham, Toska erupted for 17 goals in the regular season, which led the MAC, not just the MAC Freedom, in the regular season, and was tied for 12^th in the nation. He also led the MAC Freedom in shots, shots on goal, and points. FDU-Florham had star performances from its other forwards as well. Genti Dauti (Lincoln Park, NJ) earned the most shots taken only after Toska in the MAC Freedom. Christian Adame (Passiac, NJ) was second in goals scored with nine of them this season. Ryan Maguire (Toms River, NJ) also performed very well, earning five assists for the team. Last but not least, Piotr Widerynski (Ringwood, NJ) impressed in his debut for the Devils, earning five goals.
 


Scouting the Scarlet Raiders
Rutgers-Newark comes into the ECAC playoffs after a 9-7-4 regular season. The Scarlet Raiders posted a 6-4-0 record out of conference. At home, the Scarlet Raiders went 2-2-0, which is where this match will be played. Rutgers-Newark qualified for the NJAC tournament playoffs but was knocked out in the first round by Rutgers-Camden by a score
of 1-0. In the regular season, they finished 5^th out of 10 teams in the NJAC.

The Scarlet Raiders are led by Head Coach Kevin East, who is in his 18^th season leading the Scarlet Raiders. In his time there, his record is 220-121-36 (.653).

On the offensive side, Rutgers-Newark is led by first team All-NJAC selection Erick Cortes. In his sophomore season, he scored 12 goals and two assists for a total of 26 points. Edgar Silva also put up some production for the Scarlet Raiders, scoring four times. He tied for leading the team in assists with Ian Brown, and Pablo Moreno, who all secured three assists.

Defensively, Rutgers-Newark's backline is led by second team All-NJAC selection Bryan Rodriguez. In net for the Scarlet Raiders will be Pedro Flores. He appeared in 17 games this season wth 61 saves, which averaged out to 3.59 saves per game.

The winner of this match will advance to the semifinals of the ECAC tournament, where they will take on the winner of the first game in pod 2 between Alvernia and William Paterson.


Pod 1 First Round and Semifinals - Saturday, Nov. 16 & Sunday, Nov. 17 at Juniata College
Game 1: (Sat.): No. 4 McDaniel College vs. No. 5 Hartford at 2:00 PM
Game 2 (Sun.): No. 1 Juniata vs. Winner Game 1 

Pod 2 First Round and Semifinals - Saturday, Nov. 16 & Sunday, Nov. 17 at Rutgers Newark
Game 1: (Sat.): No. 2 Alvernia University vs. No.7 William Paterson at 3:00 PM
Game 2 (Sat.): No. 3 Rutgers-Newark vs. No. 6 FDU-Florham at Noon
Game 3 (Sun): Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Championship – Saturday, Nov. 23 at TBD
Winner Pod 1 vs. Winner Pod 2

For the latest on FDU-Florham Athletics, follow the Devils via social media (@FDUDevils) on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. 
 
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