Madison, N.J. (August 30) – The FDU-Florham Men's Soccer team opened the regular season with a 1-0 win over Madison Ave. rival, the Drew University Rangers, in Friday afternoon non-conference action. The Devils were able to see their lone goal come off the opportunity of a penalty, from a foul within the goalies box. 

Records: FDU-Florham (1-0); Drew (0-1)
Location: Madison, NJ (Robert T. Shields Field)
FDU Goal Scorers: Irfan Kermalli (1)

The first half of non-conference action held excitement on both sides of the field as each team fired at the net multiple times. FDU-Florham had more opportunities as they recorded seven shots on the Drew goalkeeper. The Rangers found opportunities of their own as they fired away and notched a total of six shots in the first half.

Drew came close to scoring the first goal of the game as the first shot bounced off the post and a Ranger was able to find a second on goal but was collected by Devil goalkeeper Anthony Petrucci (West Orange, NJ) to keep the score at 0-0 heading into the half.

The Devils' offense in the second half came out ready to strike as they were seen taking aim for five shots in the hope one would go in early in the second half.
 
In the 67th minute of the game, Drilon Toska (Lincoln Park, NJ) was fouled inside the goalie's box, resulting in an earned penalty kick for FDU-Florham. Taking the kick for the Devils was Irfan Kermalli (Morris Plans, NJ) as he lined up his shot and was able to send it past the goalkeeper to have the scoreboard read 1-0.
 
FDU-Florham played a defensive game for the remainder of the contest and was able to secure the 1-0 season-opening non-conference win over Drew.

Petrucci collected his first win of the season in goal and collected seven saves on the day to help secure the win.

In the contest, Drew outshout FDU-Florham, 16-13, with 7 shots on goal to the Devils' four. The corner kicks were in favor of Drew as they saw 7 opportunities, compared to FDU's 4 corner kicks.
FDU-Florham will return to Robert T. Shields Field on Wednesday, September 4, when they host CCNY for a 7:00 PM non-conference match up.

With the win, FDU-Florham is set to play against Kean on Sunday, September 1 at Drew University. Kick-off is set for 1pm.

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