LOUDONVILLE, NY - Siena Men's Soccer returns home to Hickey Field for the first time since late August when the team welcomes the reigning BIG EAST Champion Xavier University Musketeers at 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13. 
 
Siena (1-2-2) returns to Loudonville following a season-long, four-match road stretch where the team posted a 1-2-1 record against Lafayette (L, 1-0), Northeastern (T, 0-0), UAlbany (W, 1-0), and UConn (L, 2-0). 
 
The match will be aired on ESPN+, with live up-to-minute updates coming from the team's X (formally Twitter) account @SienaSoccer. 
 
Friday will be the first ever meeting between Siena and Xavier, and will also mark the first time that Siena has welcomed a high-major opponent to Loudonville in 13 years, since defeating Syracuse 2-1 in overtime on Hickey Field on Sept. 4, 2011.
 
Siena enters Friday as one of the most efficient defensive units in the country through five games, sitting tied for 16th nationally with a 0.60 goals allowed average (GAA). Bennet Glinder's performance in goal plays a crucial factor in this piece of the puzzle with the sophomore's 0.60 GAA ranking top-30 in Division I (3 goals allowed over 457:59 minutes). 
 
Backliners Henrik Winkelmann, Eric Svensson, and Jesper Schone Vogtengen have also played into Gilnder's lights-out play in net, helping limit opponents to under 10 shot attempts per match. 
 
Moving into the middle portion of its season, Siena's attack will look to produce at a higher rate. The squad's lone non-own goal belongs to Nick Fernandes, who sent in the clutch game-winner in the 90th minute against UAlbany on September 5. 
 
While goals haven't come as often as desired, the attempts have been there at a steady rate. The Saints rank sixth in the MAAC with 10 shots per match, as well as seventh with eight looks on goal per outing. Mario Navarro Perez has fired off eight this season, while Zach Gardner, Alejandro Perez Jorda, Olafur Freysson, and Cole Hellert each have five or more. 
 
Xavier claimed its first BIG EAST title last season, and the team is off to a 2-2-2 start in its championship defense. Recently ranked ninth in the United Soccer Coaches East Region rankings, the Musketeers have taken on a pair of nationally-ranked opponents so far this season which resulted in a 2-0 win over #2 Marshall, and a 3-1 road loss to #21 Ohio State. Led by third-year head coach John Higgins, Xavier is producing 1.50 goals per match while Matthew Senanou tops the team with three. Johnny Mennell has played all 540 minutes in goal this season for the team and owns a 1.17 goals against average, and a .759 save percentage on 22 total stops. 
 
While this match features the first-ever meeting between Siena and Xavier, the Saints have played two prior matches against schools from Ohio - Ohio State in 2012, and Cleveland State in 2011. 
 
The Saints will return to the road following Friday's match when the team travels to take on Boston College at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 17.