Men's Soccer | 11/22/2019 4:18:00 PM

SECTIONAL ROUND
The No. 12/14 Engineers have advance to the Sectional Round of the NCAA Division III NCAA Tournament and will face No. 8/6 Messiah College on Saturday afternoon in Amherst, Mass. (1:30pm). 

RPI ADVANCES ON PENALTIES
Rensselaer and Middlebury played to a scoreless draw on Sunday in the Regional Final at East Campus Stadium and the Engineers advanced on a penalty kick shootout, 5-3 ... Sophomore goalkeeper Luke Brezak made a save in the fourth round, before classmate Paul Silva buried his attempt in the fifth to clinch the win.

FIRST MEETING
The Engineers have never faced the 10-time National Champions from Messiah.

IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Rensselaer has a 5-7-1 record in NCAA Tournament play, making its ninth appearances in 2019 ... The Engineers earned single victories in 1997, 2009, 2012 and 2015, before advancing to the Third Round for the first time this season.

AWAY FROM HOME
The Engineers are 3-6-0 away from Troy in NCAA Tournament play ... Their most recent victory came against Stevens, 2-1 in overtime, in a First Round match at Brandeis College on November 14, 2015.

ENGINEERS LEADERS
Freshman Josh Gaudiano has set new school records in goals (15) and points (35), with five assists  ... Classmate Arik Duncan (5 goals, 3 assists) has 13 points in just 14 games, while senior Austin Betterly (3 goals, 5 assists) and junior Trevor Bisson (5 goals, 1 assist) have 11 points apiece. 

RPI GOALKEEPING
Sophomore Luke Brezak (10-0-4) has a 0.49 goals against average and an .860 save percentage, while senior captain Matt LaBranche (5-1-0) has a 1.06 goals against average and a .795 save percentage.

MAJOR LEAGUE AWARDS
Freshman Josh Gaudiano became the first player in Liberty League history to earn Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season ... During RPI's nine conferences matches, he compiled seven goals and two assists for 16 points, with three game-winning tallies ... He was joined by head coach Adam Clinton and his staff as the Coaching Staff of the Year.


ECAC HONORS
Freshman Josh Gaudiano was the Division III North Rookie of the Month in September, before earning Player of the Month honors for October ... In September, he posted seven goals and two assists on 20 shots (9 on goal) ... For October, he notched eight goals and three assists for 19 points, with 37 shots (23 on target) ... He had four game-winning goals in the month and converted 3 of 3 penalties.

WEEKLY AWARDS
Freshman Josh Gaudiano was a three-time Liberty League Offensive Performer of the Week and a two-time Rookie of the Week ... Classmate Arik Duncan earned three Rookie of the Week awards, while senior Dylan Confair (Offensive Performer), sophomore Luke Brezak (Defensive Performer) and Trevor Bisson (Defensive Performer) were also honored through the season. 


ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Senior Dylan Confair and sophomore Paul Silva garnered CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team honors and are both eligible for Academic All-America consideration ... Confair is a Mechanical Engineers and Economics dual major with a 3.90 cumulative grade point average, while Silva is studying Mechanical Engineers with a Economics minor and has a 3.43 GPA. 

NINE ARE ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE
The Engineers placed nine players on All-Liberty League teams, including First Team selections Austin Betterly, Trevor Bisson, Josh Gaudiano and Michael Harten ... Dylan Confair was the lone Second Team selection, while Dillon Ashong, Luke Brezak, Joe Di Miceli and Arik Duncan were Honorable Mention.

WINS RECORD FALLS
With its win in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament over Eastern Nazarene, RPI set a school record for victories in a season with 15 ... The Engineers notched 14 wins in both 1996 and 2009, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in each of those seasons.

MOST GOALS
RPI's 43 goals this season are the most in school history ... The Engineers eclipsed the 2009 team's mark of 41 during their 4-0 shutout of Eastern Nazarene on Saturday ... The four goals against the Lions are the most by an RPI team in an NCAA Tournament game.

UNBEATEN RUN
The Engineers set the school mark for longest unbeaten streak this season, going 15 games without a defeat (13-0-2) ... RPI did lose a game in September or October, finally falling at Ithaca, 1-0, in the regular season finale.

WINNING STREAK TOO
Rensselaer won a program-best 10 straight games from September 7 to October 9 ... The Engineers outscored the opposition, 28-7, during the run.

GOLAZO GAUDIANO 
Freshman Josh Gaudiano broke the school record for goals in season on October 18, 2019, when he netted a pair of goals in a 3-1 victory over Hobart at East Campus Stadium ... The previous record holder was Gary Sroka '08, who had 12 in 2007.

GAUDIANO II
The school's single-season record holder in goals (15) and points (35), freshman Josh Gaudiano had a seven-game goal-scoring streak in which he posted 10 tallies ... He also recorded at least one point in 10 consecutive games (13 goals, 5 assists).

BACK LINE PROWESS 
RPI has seen center backs Trevor Bisson and Joe Di Miceli both start all 21 games this season ... Senior Dillon Ashong, who has seen a handful of starts as a striker, has held down an outside back spot recently, while also starting all 21 ... Sophomore CJ Emmerich has come on over the second half of the season, playing 19 matches (13 starts) ... The Engineers have posted eight clean sheets on the season, including five in the last six games.

THE DROUGHT
Freshman Josh Gaudiano has registered a goal or assist in six straight games, despite producing 22 shots (8 on goal) ... He has averaged 92.8 minutes per match, with RPI going 2-1-3 in those contests.

BACK LINE
Freshman Josh Gaudiano has registered a goal or assist in six straight games, despite producing 22 shots (8 on goal) ... He has averaged 92.8 minutes per match, with RPI going 2-1-3 in those contests.

SCOUTING MESSIAH
The Falcons are 18-2-2 overall this season and are unbeaten over their last 20 contests (18-0-2) ... Offensively, the are led by Trevor Goodling (11 goals, 2 assists) with 24 points ... Lucas Kokolios (8 goals, 2 assists) and Micah Fitz (3 goals, 10 assists) round out the top three scorers with 18 and 16 points apiece.

IN GOAL
Nate Flanders has started all 22 games for Messiah, posting an 18-2-2 mark, with a 0.57 goals against average an .806 save percentage.

RPI'S DEBUT
Rensselaer's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance came in 1969, when it fell to Hartwick College, 5-3, in the First Round.

FORTRESS ECAV
The Engineers have compiled a 26-4-6 record at home dating back to the start of the 2016 season, including a 17-1-3 mark in 2018 and 2019 ... RPI is unbeaten 13 consecutive home matches dating back to September 29, 2018.