NEWARK, NJ–NJIT will look to earn its first back-to-back wins of the season on Saturday at 6pm when the Highlanders take on visiting Sacred Heart.

Promotion of the Game
Youth Club Night!  Join us for a night with the Highlanders and postgame autographs with the team.

Game Information 
Kickoff is slated for 6pm on Saturday, September 16 at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.  The match will be streamed live on America East TV with in-game statistics available on NJITHighlanders.com. 

Undefeated at Home
The Highlanders are undefeated at home (2-0-1) with wins over Villanova (4-1) and La Salle (3-2) and a tie against Rider (1-1).  This is the best start since the 2018 season at home when NJIT started off the season 3-0-0.

Last Time Out
Sophomore Hugo Tavares late goal in the second half lifted NJIT past visiting La Salle, 3-2, Tuesday evening in men's soccer non-conference action at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.

NJIT scored a pair of goals in the opening three minutes for a 2-0 lead.  La Salle scored a goal in the 61st minute and the equalizer in the 75th minute to tie the match at 2-2.

The Highlanders regained the lead two minutes later on a short pass by freshman Cristian LoGrasso to Maximus Barboto who served the ball into the box to a running Hugo Taveres who headed home NJIT's third goal of the match to take a 3-2 lead.

NCAA Leader in Assists
Sophomore Maximus Barboto ranks tied for first in the nation (as of Sept. 13) in total goals (6), tied for second in assists per game (1.00) and leads the America East Conference in assists.

For Barboto's young career, he stands at 10 assists which ranks tied for sixth all-time in the NJIT Division I era.  The six assists in a season ranks tied for third in the NJIT DI era.  Andrew Nino holds the NJIT DI record for assists in a season with eight set in 2019. 

Samuel Reisgys Surpasses 250 Career Saves
Reisgys, the Highlanders graduate student from Rimbach, Germany surpassed 250 career saves in a 1-1 draw against Rider on September 8, 2023.  Reisgys is NJIT's all-time career leader in saves with 256.

United Soccer Coaches Player of the Week/America East Offensive Player of the Week
Junior captain Goncalo Franco picked up a pair of Player of the Week awards after netting a pair of goals in the Highlanders 4-1 win over Big East opponent Villanova on August 31.  

All-Time Series
NJIT leads the all-time series, 7-2 against Sacred Heart.  The Highlanders have won its previous six meetings with the Pioneers, most recently a 2-0 win in Newark on September 20, 2022.

2022 Rewind
The Highlanders will look to make it four consecutive appearances in the America East Conference Tournament after finishing the 2022 season with a 5-8-4 overall record, 1-4-2 in the league.

NJIT News and Notes
–Eighth-year head coach Fernando Barboto returns 17 players from a season ago and recently announced the addition of 14 newcomers to the 2023 roster.
–Graduate student Samuel Reisgys and junior Goncalo Franco were named 2023 captains.
–Sophomore Maximus Barboto, son of Fernando Barboto, was named 2022 America East Rookie of the Year and was rated 76th out of 100 freshmen nation-wide in TopDrawerSoccer.com National Freshmen Top-100 Postseason list.
–Barboto, Andrea Campoli and Hugo Tavares were selected to the 2022 America East All-Rookie Team.
–Tavares paces NJIT with three goals and ranks tied for first in points (6) with Barboto.
–Newcomer Alvaro Heredia, a transfer from Xavier, has scored goals in back-to-back games for the Highlanders
–NJIT was voted to finish fifth in the 2023 America East Preseason Poll.
–The Highlander schedule features 18 regular season matches and seven America East matches to finish the season.

Scouting Sacred Heart
--Enters Saturday with a 3-3 record, most recently coming off a win against Brown (2-1)
–Sacred Heart has 22 players returning from last season, including four seniors.
–The team finished fourth in the conference in the 2022 season with a 7-9-1 record and a 4-3-1 NEC record.
–The Pioneers were selected to finish fourth in the 2023 Preseason Northeast Conference Coaches Poll out of nine teams.
–David Garcia Gaellego paces the team with two goals and four points.

Next Up
NJIT will continue its five match homestand on Tuesday, September 19 at 7pm when the Highlanders host Iona.

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