Live Stats Watch Live on ESPN3
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT men's soccer opens its 2013 season tonight at 8 pm on a big stage against a big opponent. The Highlanders will visit #19 St. John's in Queens, NY, for a game that will be shown live worldwide over the internet on ESPN3.
ESPN3 is a streaming service that offers a high level of production quality comparable to that found on ESPN's on-air platforms. ESPN3 has shown NJIT men's basketball games in the past, but this marks the first time on ESPN for the men's soccer Highlanders.
In St. John's, a first-time soccer opponent NJIT, the Highlanders will be tested against a team ranked 19th in the
Soccer America national preseason poll. The Red Storm has appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament four times in the last five years, including in 2012. St. John's has six Big East regular season championships, nine Big East tournament titles, and 19 NCAA tournament berths in its history.
The Red Storm welcomes back 14 letter winners from last year's 10-5-1 NCAA-qualifying squad, led by goalkeeper Rafael Diaz, one of three keepers named to Soccer America's 2013 pre-season All-America team after being first-team All-Big East in 2012. In front of Diaz, the back line is anchored by Tim Parker, the preseason co-defensive player of the year in the Big East.
NJIT is coming off the best record (10-9) since it began playing Division I soccer in 2004. The 2012 Highlanders doubled the program's previous high at college soccer's top level and ranked 8th in the final National Soccer Coaches Association of America North Atlantic Region poll.
Members of this season's roster accounted for 121 of the total 209 individual games started by the 2012 Highlanders. Of the 2012 Highlanders' 28 goals, 23 were scored by 2013 returnees, which includes eight of the top nine individual scorers. They are led by
Franco Gamero (17 pts, 7 G, 3 A),
Marko Drljic (11 pts, 2 G, 7 A), and
Cristian Marcel (10 pts, 3 G, 4 A).
Tonight's contest will mark the NJIT head coaching debut for
Didier Orellana, who served the previous two seasons as the team's lead assistant coach. Prior to joining the NJIT staff, Orellana compiled 56 wins in six seasons as head coach at Division III Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY.
Although St. John's offers a daunting challenge, the Highlanders have had their share of big moments against top foes since moving up to Division I.
In 2007, the Highlanders beat San Diego State, 3-0, in California when the Azrecs were ranked in the national Top 25. NJIT also went 2-2 against Rutgers in annual games from 2007 through 2010 and they defeated Seton Hall of the Big East Conference last year, 1-0.
In addition, in 2011, men's soccer defeated Virginia Tech, 1-0, for NJIT's only win in any sport over a team from the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference. Topping Virginia Tech took on added prestige for the Highlanders when North Carolina, which lost that same year to Virginia Tech, went on to win the 2011 Division I national championship.
