In a battle of two teams undefeated in New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) play, No. 21 Rowan men’s soccer defeated No. 2 Montclair State on Saturday, Oct. 19 by a final score of 1-0.

In what was a back-and-forth contest, Johnny Troiano’s goal at 62:02 lifted the Profs to victory, which was the junior’s team-leading 12th on the year.

“Johnny’s our goal scorer,” Head Coach Scott Baker said. “It’s like a home run hitter. You’re going to have some ups and downs, and he went through that little down period, which is normal. We never had a doubt, he just had to play himself through it, and he has. Now he’s back, and if he’s scoring goals like he has the last two games, we’re going to be very, very difficult to beat. He makes that much of an impact.”

Beating Montclair goes deeper than just the standings for the Profs, as showing they are the team to beat in conference means more. With only NJAC games remaining on Rowan’s schedule, there is plenty of time for the Profs to take over that role.

“It was huge, it was bigger than just giving them their first loss,” Captain Turlough Gartlan said. “It kind of solidified us as the best team in the conference and it had a lot of back into it. It was the first time, at least in the four years that I’ve been here that we beat them in the regular run of the conference, instead of postseason.”

“If we win the next three games in the conference and we end up with six straight wins, it would be a tremendous impact,” Baker said.

Gartlan is not going to light up the stat sheet by scoring a ton of goals, but his impact goes far beyond that. He is a key defensive and setup player, and his leadership both on and off the field does not go unnoticed.

“He’s a captain off the field,” Baker said. “He’s been our captain the longest, and he’s our leader. He takes care of a lot of stuff behind the scenes that help keep a team running. Some people might recognize, and some people might not. He’s super important. Hard to put into words what he does off the field. On the field, it’s a little bit
easier, because its easier to see what he’s doing. He’s not our goal scorer, but he probably doesn’t get the credit that he needs. In a game like Montclair, he might not be the MVP, but he’s the unsung hero. He’s doing a lot of the dirty work, and he doesn’t get a lot of credit for it, but he’s super valuable for us.”

Rowan’s energy is through the roof after defeating a conference rival and one of the top teams in the country. The team is in full gear at the right time with the postseason on the horizon.

“The energy is high,” Gartlan said. “It’s something we kind of expected, we should’ve started off with all wins instead of ties. Being the only team that hasn’t lost in the NJAC is kind of huge and we love that.

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