ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s soccer team, seeded third, travels to Hoboken, N.J. on Friday, where they face Empire 8 rival, and second seed Stevens Institute of Technology (13-3-1, 5-1-1 Empire 8) in the semifinals of the Empire 8 tournament at 2 p.m. RIT is currently 8-7-1 overall, and 5-2-0 in the Empire 8.
The Tigers fell to Nazareth, 1-0, last Saturday in the regular season finale. The game was a battle for first-place in the Empire 8, and the chance to host the Empire 8 Championships. After a scoreless first half, the Golden Flyers struck in the 82nd minute to secure the win and home field advantage. The loss ended RIT’s six game winning streak. Top-seed, Nazareth, will host No. 4 St. John Fisher on Friday at 2 p.m.
The Tigers are led by junior
Dom Colaprete (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport). He has seven goals and one assist on the season. In addition, Colaprete has scored a goal in five of the Tigers last six games, and leads the team with four game winning goals.
Bret Dietz (Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt) and
Jeff Diaz (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) have also been standouts this season for the Tigers. Dietz has tallied two goals and three assists, while Diaz has a goal and five assists on the season. He has scored a point in four of the last six games for RIT.
On September 26, the Tigers lost at Stevens, 4-0. The Ducks are 9-0-1 at home this season, and beat Utica, 1-0 in overtime last weekend. They have conceeded just six goals on the season while scoring 31, and have outshot their opponents 318-139.
Since 2000, RIT has won the Empire 8 Championship twice (2000 and 2004) and were co-champions twice (2001 and 2005). The last time the Tigers made the Empire 8 tournament was in 2006, where they were defeated by Nazareth in the Championship, 1-0.