With its 5-0 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament over Baruch College, the men’s soccer team will travel to New Jersey to face the Montclair State University Red Hawks on Saturday in the second round of the tournament.
While the Cardinals qualified for the NCAA Tournament last year and lost 2-1 in overtime to eventual champion Messiah College, this is Montclair State’s first trip to the NCAAs since 1998. The Cards will face a formidable challenge on Saturday, as the Red Hawks put together their best season since the ’98 season with a 19-1 record, and captured the New Jersey Athletic Conference championship over New Jersey City College to earn an automatic bid to the NCAAs.
The Red Hawks began the season unranked in the national polls, but are currently ranked 8th in the country in the recent Nov. 7 NSCAA National Rankings. The Cardinals, once ranked as high as 7th in the polls, dropped to 23rd in the rankings after a disappointing loss to Bates in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament.
While Montclair State’s 19 wins are tied for second among the top 25 teams in Division III, the Red Hawks have not faced a team in the top 25 or any other team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Conversely, the Cardinals’ NESCAC Conference is known as one of the toughest conferences in the country, as Williams, Amherst, both ranked in the top 25, and Middlebury all qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
The Cards and Red Hawks will face off at 1 p.m. on Montclair’s turf field on Saturday. The winner of the second round match-up will advance to the Sectionals, which will be held next weekend.
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