By Nick Kurti
Staff Writer
When the Lions were nicknamed the “dark horse” of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, a start like this was exactly what they meant.
With their new head coach, Steve DeMatteo, a former UPenn assistant coach who helped their Ivy League three-peat, and four freshmen with goal contributions already, including two goals and two assists from Matt Will, the team starts 2-0 for the first time since 2019, their most recent season with a winning record.
The home opener saw Immaculata University at Lions Stadium on Friday, Aug. 29. DeMatteo and the team were feeling nervous yet ready to take on the Mighty Macs, fielding a freshman defender, midfielder, striker and goalkeeper.
“There's a lot of nervous energy and anxiety when you're playing your first game,” DeMatteo told The Signal. “We had a lot of young guys on the field, and then we had a lot of older guys trying to make plays.”
The first half saw the players physically neck-and-neck as aggression took over missed calls, but the College had the upper hand, outshooting Immaculata 8-0. In the 42nd minute, senior Chris Meder got the ball loose to Monroe freshman Aidan Ayar, who buried it into the bottom corner to get the scoring started.
When they returned for the second half, the Lions were ruthless. In the first five minutes, senior J.J. Zaun assisted Meder in a header, and then Meder assisted junior Pablo Argueta in a beautiful behind-the-back shot to get up 3-0.
Freshmen duo Ayar and Will scored the fourth as Ayar kicked a long ball to Will, who scrambled to beat Mighty Mac goalie Matteo Paolillo and put it into the right side. This, alongside a solo Meder breakaway, finished off the unprecedented win. It was the most goals for a season opener since 2013, where they beat John Jay 7-0.
On Sunday, Penn State Berks arrived to take on the Lions, coming off of a 3-0 shutout from Albright. The Lions commanded 28 shots and 12 corner kicks this match, whereas Berks only had one of each.
It was this performance in corner kicks that got the College on the board, with freshman Aiden Grund taking the kick and sophomore Lawrence Mancino heading it past the keeper into the bottom left corner. About twenty minutes later, Ayar makes a short pass to Meder, who spins past the Berks defense and through the goalie into the net. Just two minutes later, Massimo Rodio put a penalty in the left side to close out the half up 3-0.
“Being a senior, I just kind of want to leave the mark on these young guys to work hard every day, and push the program forward,” Rodio, an accounting major, told us after the match. “We can stop the standards, and keep going on an upward trajectory as a department because that's what we've been doing.”
The second half was all Will. The Lions’ fourth goal came when Will’s corner came back to him from Grund, setting up a far left shot through the goalie. One minute later, another corner from Will set up roommate freshman Manny Thacher to head the fifth one in. In the last goal, Will assisted sophomore Michael Pappas, who kicked it past the goalie to score his first goal as a Lion. On Tuesday, Sept. 2, this performance was directly cited as he won NJAC Rookie of the Week.
The Lions are off to neutral territory this coming weekend in Newark for the Brick City Classic. They continue their streak of non-conference play against Penn State Harrisburg and Farmingdale State. Game one will kick off on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 3 p.m.
