The Albertus Magnus men's soccer team will begin its quest for the program's second Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament title on Sunday, Oct. 30 as the Falcons will host Mount Ida College at Celentano Field at 1:00 p.m.

The Falcons are the top seed of the 2011 GNAC Championship Tournament as they finished the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record in conference play for the first time in program history.

Sunday's quarterfinal match-up against eighth-seeded Mount Ida marks the second meeting between the two programs this season. Sunday's winner will move on to face the victor of the No. 4 Norwich vs. No. 5 Lasell match on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at the higher seed.

The Falcons will be looking for their 15^th win of the season on Sunday, which is a program record and a milestone that has only been achieved once – last season.

Albertus enters the weekend undefeated in its last 14 games, while being ranked No. 9 in New England by the NSCAA. As a team, Albertus is ranked among the top-25 in the nation in scoring offense (21^st), total goals (15^th), shutout percentage (20^th), winning percentage (21^st) and save percentage (23^rd).

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

Stephen Zapata (Hamden, Conn.) leads the nation with 1.27 assists per game, while his season-tally of 19 assists is the best in the country, including Division I and II programs.

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.

In GNAC Tournament play, the Falcons are 9-12-3 overall and were 2-1 last season as they battled into the championship game but fell to Suffolk 2-1. Albertus has one GNAC Tournament title, coming in 1996 during the league's inaugural season.

Albertus faced Mount Ida on Oct. 5 and defeated the Mustangs 2-0 as Lindsley Barrett (Shelton, Conn.) and Zapata both scored to lead the Falcons in the conference victory. In their last four meetings, the Falcons are 2-1-1 against the Mustangs dating back to Oct. 25, 2008.

Mount Ida finished the 2011 regular season with a conference record of 4-5-1, while posting an overall mark of 7-8-1.