Game 8	Sacred Heart (2-4-0; 2-10-5 in 2021) at NJIT (2-3-2; 6-12-1 in 2021)
Date | Time	Tuesday, September 20, 2022 | 7pm
Location | Field	Newark, NJ | Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium
All-Time Series	NJIT leads 6-2
ESPN+ ($$)	Watch
Live Stats	In-Game Statistics

NEWARK, NJ–The NJIT men's soccer team will play at home for the first time in 2022 after a season-opening seven matches on the road, welcoming Sacred Heart on Tuesday, September 20 at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.

Game Information
The match is set to kickoff at 7pm at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.  The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ ($$) and in-game statistics will be available for free at www.NJITHighlanders.com.

Home Sweet Home
The 2022 season marks the first time NJIT opened up the season with seven road contests.  In 2017, NJIT opened the season on a five-match road swing.

Aug. 25 vs. Drexel (at JMU) | T, 2-2
Aug. 28 at JMU | W, 1-0
Sept. 2 at UConn | L, 1-3
Sept. 6 at Iona | L, 2-3
Sept. 10 at La Salle | W, 1-0
Sept. 14 at Villanova | L, 0-3
Sept. 18 at Rider |  T, 2-2

All-Time Series
NJIT leads the all-time series, 6-2. The last time the two teams met was on August 30, 2021 with the Highlanders blanking Sacred Heart, 7-0.  The seven goals scored in a single game are the most scored by a Highlander team in the Division I era.  In the 2013 season, NJIT scored six goals against Howard on November 10.  The program mark stands at nine, accomplished in 2006.

Last Time Out
NJIT scored a goal in each half and goalkeeper Samuel Reisgys made a diving save in the final minutes on a Rider penalty kick as the Highlanders and Broncs played to a 2-2 draw in non-conference men's soccer action Sunday afternoon at Ben Cohen Stadium.

NJIT scored the equalizer a minute later off a beautiful pass from Jordi Navio Sanchez, who slipped the ball past two Rider defenders to Jose Del Valle.  Del Valle took two dribbles and tucked the ball into the bottom left for a 1-1 tie.

NJIT's Justin Aguirre-Rosas knotted the match at 2-2 on a long left-footed blast from the right side of the field in the 65th minute.

The save in the 85th minute by co-captain Reisgys was his 206 career save, which ranks tied for first in the NJIT Division I era with Victor Pujades'19. Reisgys combined for three saves on seven shots faced by the Rider squad.

NJIT Notes
NJIT's Fernando Barboto enters his seventh season at the helm of the Highlanders.  

In 2019, Barboto guided the NJIT men's soccer program in capturing the ASUN Tournament and Regular Season title.  The 2019 ASUN Conference Coach of the Year along with his coaching staff, who was named United Soccer Coaches Atlantic Region Coaching Staff of the Year,  led the Highlanders to the first NCAA appearance at the Division I level (first round; at Providence on November 21, 2019).

Under Barboto, the Highlanders have made postseason appearances in five-out-of-six seasons (2021, 2020 in AE; 2019, 2018, 2017 in the ASUN Tournament).

The 32-man roster consists of 18 returners from the America East semifinals team and 13 newcomers.

Sophomore Goncalo Franco is the lone Highlander returning for the 2022 season who earned 2021 America East All-Conference accolades (All-Rookie Team).

Scouting the Highlanders
NJIT has collected wins against James Madison and La Salle while tying Drexel and Rider and falling to UConn, Iona and Villanova.  The Highlanders were ranked in the United Soccer Coaches poll during the first two weeks of competition.

Asembo Augo, Goncalo Franco and Jose Del Valle lead the Highlanders with two goals apiece while freshman Maximus Barboto, who has earned America East Conference Rookie of the Week twice this season thus far, is the son of head coach Fernando Barboto.  He leads NJIT with three assists.

Senior co-captain Reisgys has played every minute of all six matches in goal for the Highlanders this season, posting a 1.86 goals-against average and a .658 saves percentage. His 206 career saves ranks tied for first in the NJIT DI era with Victor Pujades '19.

2022 Captains
NJIT head men's soccer coach Fernando Barboto announced senior goalkeeper Reisgys and Franco, NJIT's midfielder, as team captains to lead the Highlanders in the 2022 season.

Reisgys was named to the 2021 America East All-Academic team, starting every match (18) but one while Franco was selected to the America East All-Rookie team, netting a pair of goals in his first season at NJIT.

America East Conference
This will also be NJIT's third season in the America East after the school joined the league in July 2020. However, it will be the Highlanders' first AE campaign after a proper offseason (2020 was played in Spring 2021 due to COVID and 2021 was played the following fall). The Highlanders were selected to finish fifth in the 2022 Preseason Coaches Poll.

Scouting Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart will enter Tuesday's match with a 2-4 overall record, most recently falling at Quinnipiac, 5-0, on September 14.

The two wins for the Pioneers were back-to-back and 2-0 victories against Holy Cross (Sept. 3) and Hartford (Sept. 7).

Graduate student Miguel Lucas Castrillo paces Sacred Heart with three assists and one goal.  Four different Pioneers have scored a goal thus far.

On September 12, freshman Koke Garcia Martinez was selected NEC Rookie of the Week after scoring his first collegiate goal of his career in the Pioneers 2-0 win at Hartford.

Next Up
NJIT will begin America East Conference play on Saturday, October 1 when the Highlanders visit UMass Lowell.  Kickoff is slated for 7pm.  Last season, NJIT's Alejandro Rabell scored a pair of goals, including the golden goal in overtime in NJIT's thrilling 2-1 win.