Falcons Ranked Ninth in New England, Zapata Leads NCAA in Assists

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (October 25, 2011) – The Albertus Magnus men’s soccer team is ranked No. 9 in New England as announced Tuesday by the NSCAA.  The Falcons move up one spot from last week’s rankings.

Junior Stephen Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) leads the nation in two categories as he is ranked first in both total assists and assists per game. Zapata averages 1.27 per contest, while his season-tally of 19 assists is the best in the country, including Division I and II programs.

He and fellow teammate Jamal Howard (West Haven, Conn.) have led Albertus offensively in 2011 as the Falcons are the top seed of the 2011 GNAC Championship Tournament, which begins Sunday. The Falcons finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record in conference play for the first time in program history.

Albertus enters the weekend undefeated in its last 14 games, while, as a team, is ranked among the top-25 in the nation in scoring offense (21st), total goals (15th), shutout percentage (20th), winning percentage (21st) and save percentage (23rd) according to the NCAA.

The Falcons average 2.94 goals per game, while Howard ranks among the top-10 in the nation in points per game (8th), goals per game (7th), total points (6th) and total goals (5th). Howard has scored 19 goals on the year and averages 1.12 per contest.

Donato Piroscafo (Naugatuck, Conn.) is ranked No. 32 in the country with a .855 save percentage, while the sophomore is in the top-50 with a 0.75 goals against average.

The Falcons were ranked 10th in the New England by the NSCAA a week ago and have moved up to No. 9. Amherst (Mass.) remains at the top of the New England rankings with an overall record of 11-0-2 after tying No. 2 Wesleyan during last week’s competition. Wesleyan is 10-0-3 on the year.