NEWARK, NJ–The NJIT men's soccer team returns home and will host five straight matches at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium, first welcoming Rider on Friday.

Game Information
Kickoff is slated for 7pm on Friday, September 8 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. 

Promotion of the Night
Highlanders Night Out.  Pregame tailgate starts at 5:30pm on the Campus Green (Hot Dogs, Ice Cream and Popcorn) with a chance to win an Apple Watch at halftime.  The winner will be announced at halftime. 

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.  

Last Time Out
Sophomore Hugo Tavares scored his second goal of the season as NJIT earned a hard-fought draw against Loyola Tuesday evening in non-conference men's soccer action at Ridley Athletic Complex.

Loyola scored the equalizer (73rd minute) on a long serve over the Highlander defense.  Sean McEvoy's header was saved by NJIT's Reisgys but the ball came loose and McEvoy's fired in the rebound knotted the match at 1-1.

All-Time Series
Rider leads the all-time series, 4-2-4.  The last two meetings between the two teams ended in a draw.

9/18/22 - T, NJIT 2, Rider 2
8/30/21 - T, NJIT 2, Rider 2
8/31/18 - W, NJIT 1, Rider 0
9/6/16 - L, Rider 1, NJIT 0
9/23/15 - L, Rider 2, NJIT 0
9/24/14 - T, NJIT 3, Rider 3
9/25/13 - W, NJIT 2, Rider 1
9/25/10 - L, Rider 3, NJIT 1
9/23/08 - T, NJIT 1, Rider 1
9/25/07 - L, Rider 3, NJIT 1

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.
–Graduate student goalkeeper Samuel Reisgys has combined for 248 career saves, which tops the record books in the NJIT All-Time Division I era.
–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 the Broncs from Rider
Rider (2-1-0) enters Friday's match on a two-game win streak, most recently defeating Sacred Heart, 2-1, on September 5.

Graduate midfielder Ethan Shaw scored the first two goals of his collegiate career, both off Saad Chaoukicorner kicks as the Rider University men's soccer team earned a 2-1 road win at Sacred Heart Tuesday night.

Rider returns 2021 MAAC Offensive Player of the Year Zaki Alibou after he missed all but two games last season due to injury. In 2021, Alibou paced the Broncs with 10 goals, five assists and 25 points. 

Rider was selected eighth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.

Next Up
NJIT will welcome La Salle on Tuesday, September 12 at 7pm.  The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.

Stay Connected
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