NEWARK, NJ--The NJIT men's soccer team will kickoff the 2021 campaign on Thursday, August 26, welcoming visiting Fairleigh Dickinson to Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.
Gameday Information
Game time is slated for 7:30pm on August 26. The match will be streamed live on ESPN3 with in-game statistics available on www.NJITHighlanders.com .
A simple way to find ESPN3 is on NJIT's official athletics website, www.njithighlanders.com. Near the middle of the home page under the headlines section, an upcoming events calendar lists scheduled NJIT contests. After finding the event, click the camera icon to the left of the event listing. That brings you to an ESPN portal where you can access the desired program.
Back to "New Normal"
After playing the 2020 campaign - its first season as a member of the America East Conference (joined the league on July 1, 2020 as the 10th full member institution) - during Spring 2021 and without fans, NJIT will have the chance to play a standard fall schedule in 2021 with fans back in attendance.
NJIT's 2021 schedule features a 17-match regular season slate, including 10 matches at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium, nine non-conference contests, eight America East Conference matches and three against NCAA Tournament participants. NJIT's fall spectator policy will allow fans to attend matches while wearing masks, regardless of vaccination status.
All-Time Series
FDU leads the all-time series, 8-4-1 (6-1-1 in Division I). NJIT picked up its lone win over the Knights in 2016, a 1-0 shutout victory. The Knights won the last meeting, 2-1, on September 17, 2019.
NJIT Notes
NJIT welcomes back 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-American Rene White (Career: 52G, 38A, 82PTS), 2021 America East Striker of the Year Regsan Watkins (2021: 7G, 3A, 17PTS), 2019 ASUN Conference Goalkeeper of the Year Samuel Reisgys, 2021 America East Second-Team member Alejandro Rabell and Jose Escandon, a rising sophomore who led the America East in assists in 2020, earning All-Rookie honors.
Scouting the Opponent
FDU, the 2019 Northeast Conference Tournament Champions, finished its 2021 spring campaign with a 2-5-1 overall mark and 2-3-1 record in the Northeast East, finishing sixth.
Three Knights were named to the All-Northeast Conference postseason honors -- midfielder Ideal Shefqeti (2G, 1A) was joined by defender Hugo Bacharach (1G) on the First Team All-NEC while forward Jeremy Opong ( logged 662 minutes in goal) was named to the second team. Bacharach and Opong were each also named to the All-Rookie Team.
America East Preseason Coaches Poll
NJIT, which played its first season in the America East Conference in the Spring 2021, made the programs first-ever appearance in the postseason tournament after sitting atop Pod C with a 4-2 conference record, earning the No. 3 seed. NJIT finished the season with a 4-5-1 overall record.
The Highlanders were selected to finish third according to the vote of the nine league coaches in the 2021 Fall Preseason Coaches Poll.
Stay Connected
Stay up to date during the NJIT Men's soccer season by following @NJITSoccer on Twitter and Instagram and liking the NJIT Men's Soccer page on Facebook.
