STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (13-1-4, 8-0-1 GNAC) will host #8 Mount Ida College (5-9-3, 2-6-1 GNAC) in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Soccer Tournament Quarterfinal game on Saturday at 1:00 PM at Deering Memorial Stadium in Portland.

OVERVIEW

Saturday's winner advances to the semifinal round of the GNAC tourney and will face the victor of the #5 Albertus Magnus College / #4 Suffolk University quarterfinal, also played Saturday, on Tuesday.

The other wing of the bracket features quarterfinal contests between #2 Norwich University and #7 Rivier University and #3 Johnson & Wales University versus #6 Emmanuel College.

The winner of the GNAC Championship game, set to be played on Saturday, November 5th, earns an automatic berth into the 2016 NCAA DIII Men's Soccer Championship, which begins on November 10th.

SEASON AT A GLANCE

Saint Joseph's:

• The Monks have been the best defensive team in the conference this season with a minuscule 0.32 goals against average – the second-lowest mark in the nation – while outscoring opponents by a 31-6 margin
• St. Joe's outscored conference foes by an aggregate 18-1 score, with the lone goal allowed being an own-goal in a 2-1 win over Johnson & Wales on October 1st
• The Monks enter the playoffs riding a program record 16-game unbeaten streak, with the team's only blemish thus far being a 2-0 setback at the hands of University of New England on September 4th

Mount Ida:

• The Mustangs held a 4-2-1 record after defeating Anna Maria College, 3-2, on September 17th, but the team has struggled since with just one victory in their last 10 games: a 2-1 triumph over Lasell College on October 15th
• Mount Ida has been outscored by a 24-4 margin over the final 10 contests of the regular season
• Three of the Mustangs' five wins have been played on the road

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Saint Joseph's:

• Sophomore forward Brett Mattos (Mahopac, N.Y.) leads the SJC offensive attack with six goals and three assists for 15 total points; five of his six strikes have been of the game-winning variety
• With a balanced attack – 14 different players have scored at least one goal – the Monks four others with three or more goals on the season: freshman Cody Elliott (Gorham, Maine), sophomore Kartikeya Swarup (Delhi, India), sophomore Dalton Gaumer (Corona, Calif.), and junior Austin Bell (Gorham, Maine)
• Freshmen JoJo Strobino (Clifton, N.J.) and Mitchell Duncan (Sanford, Maine) have dealt six and four assists, respectively

Mount Ida:

• Sophomore Juan Brenes (Santo Domingo, D.R.), the 2015 GNAC Rookie of the Year, leads the Mustangs offensively with seven goals – including four game-clinchers – and 15 total points
• Freshman Michael Porcello (Abington, Mass.) has been a contributor off the bench with three goals
• Senior JT Yager (Malta, N.Y.) has a goal and two assists for four total points in 16 starts

KEEPER COMPARISON

Saint Joseph's: Sophomore Blake Mullen (Manchester, Conn.) is in the midst of one of the finest seasons ever recorded by a Saint Joseph's goalkeeper, with conference-leading numbers in goals against average (0.29), save percentage (.896), wins (13), and shutouts (11). The two-time GNAC Goalkeeper of the Week honoree currently ranks second in the nation in goals against average.

Mount Ida: Junior Riley Ford (Guilderland, N.Y.) has started all 17 games for the Mustangs this fall and enters the postseason with a 1.89 goals against average and a .735 save percentage. The 2015 Third Team All-GNAC honoree ranks third in the conference in saves (86) and shutouts (5).

ATTITUDE REFLECTS LEADERSHIP:

Saint Joseph's Head Coach Adrian Dubois, now in his third season at the helm, is 29-23-5 (.558) overall with a 17-9-1 (.654) record in conference play on the college sideline. The Monks have shown dramatic improvement since his first year (2014), when an injury-maligned club went 5-15 overall (3-6 GNAC), as St. Joe's went 11-7-1 with a 6-3 mark in GNAC play in 2015 en route to earning the #3 seed in the GNAC tourney before emerging as the top team in the conference this fall.

Mount Ida Head Coach Joe Campbell, now in his seventh season, has a career record of 43-59-8 (.414) and has been chosen as the GNAC Coach of the Year twice in the last three years. Campbell also built his program up from the doldrums as the Mustangs posted a 1-14-1 record in his first season (2010) and improved to a 12-7-1 mark with an appearance in the GNAC semifinals, for the second-consecutive season, in 2015.

THE LAST TIME WE MET:

Saint Joseph's edged Mount Ida by a 1-0 margin in Newton on September 28th, as Bell scored what proved to be the winner off a Jesse Ramirez (Dumont, N.J.) pass in the 41st minute. The Monks held a 24-15 shots advantage while Mullen made four stops in the shutout effort and Ford tallied six saves in the setback.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

Saint Joseph's is 6-4-0 in the history of the series with Mount Ida College. Five of the contests between the conference rivals have been decided by one goal.

POSTSEASON HISTORY:

The Monks have advanced to the GNAC Tournament every season since the College joined the conference in the fall of 2007. St. Joe's is 8-7 in GNAC postseason play with GNAC Championships in 2009 and 2011, but the Monks have not won a tournament contest since toppling Norwich University, 4-1, in the 2011 conference title game.

In 2015, Saint Joseph's suffered a 2-1 overtime loss at the hands of sixth-seeded Albertus Magnus College in a GNAC quarterfinal at Westerlea Way Field.

The Mustangs, who also joined the GNAC in 2007, have advanced to the playoffs in nine of 10 seasons with an overall record of 3-8 in postseason play. Mount Ida advanced to the GNAC semifinal round in 2008, 2014, and 2015 with ECAC Tournament appearances in 2013 and 2015.

Last fall, Mount Ida edged Lasell College, 2-1 in OT, in a conference quarterfinal before falling to Albertus Magnus, 3-2, in semifinal action.

#GOMONKS

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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.