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Pirates Strike First But Can't Hold On At Princeton


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South Orange, N.J. — Despite an early first half goal from senior Chiara Pucci (Munich, Germany), the Seton Hall women's soccer team was unable to come out with a massive road victory as Princeton came from behind to beat the Pirates, 3-1, on Thursday evening.

It marked Pucci's second goal of the season and her career. Sophomore Lily Camacho (Summit, N.J.) earned her first assist of the season. The Pirates (2-1-2) will have another tough road test on Sunday when they take on North Carolina at 1 p.m.

How It Happened

Seton Hall more than held its own through the first 10 minutes against Princeton, an NCAA Tournament team from last season and one of the most consistent programs on the East Coast. The Pirates drew a free kick in their attacking half following a foul and Camacho stepped up to take it. She sent a strike into the six-yard box where it found the head of Pucci whose second goal of the season gave The Hall a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute.

With less than 10 minutes to go before halftime, Princeton was able to equalize after the Seton Hall defense played a stingy first half. The score was still knotted up at 1-1 midway through the second half when the Tigers pulled ahead in the 69th minute to take a 2-1 lead. Despite two corner kick opportunities, five shots and two shots on goal after halftime, the Pirates were unable to add to their tally as Princeton came out on top at home.

News & Notes

  • Five Pirates played the full 90 minutes; Pucci, Natalie Tavana (Middletown, Conn.), Rachel Gerrie (Littleton, Colo.), Olivia Beauvois (Windsor, Conn.) and Kylie Ray.
  • Pucci now has two goals and four points on the season and she's up to seven career points.
  • Camacho has three career assists.
  • Princeton had a 13-7 edge in shots and a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal.
  • Five corners were taken with Princeton taking three and the Pirates taking two.
  • Tavana had the second most shot attempts of the game with two.

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Bozzella on the schedule


TROVE: Speaking of the Big East, UConn is UConn and they'll have Paige Bueckers back, but how do you see the rest of the conference shaking out this year?

BOZZELLA: To be frank, the conference has lost a lot of talent. Villanova lost three kids that could have come back. Creighton lost one of their best players that could have come back. You know we lost a starter that could have come back in Micah Gray. You go down the list a couple of these other schools all lost players that could have come back plus we graduated a lot. So the league is still talented, but it's not as talented as it's been. It isn't, you've got to be blunt.

With that being said, I think this is one of our more overall talented teams. So I think, we were picked in that pseudo preseason poll - they do one during the summer to help with the scheduling - we were picked sixth. I think we'll be better than that. Whether we can get into that two, three spot, you know, we have to stay healthy and we have to gel as a team. We have the ability to. We'll see where that ends. We play only Villanova once and Georgetown once. So clearly, we're still playing UConn twice, Creighton twice, Providence was picked third and we're playing them twice. We're faced with a tough schedule, but I do think we have the ability to do really well. It's one of our more overall top to bottom talented teams. If Ramani can play she's an X factor. Ramani's an all-conference level player. You can't just look at her stats she's really good.

No. 25 Seton Hall Battles UAlbany in Home Opener Thursday Night


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South Orange, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's soccer team, coming off a 1-0 win down in Miami against FIU, returns home to South Orange to take on UAlbany in its 2024 home opener Thursday night at Owen T. Carroll Field at 6:56 p.m. The game is free for all to attend, and it will be broadcast on the Pirate Sports Network via FloSports, which requires a subscription. A discounted subscription is available through this link.

For fans coming to the game, team schedule posters will be given away at the marketing table while supplies last.


BACK IN THE RANKINGS

  • Seton Hall has entered the United Soccer Coaches Poll at No. 25 in the rankings released on Tuesday afternoon. The Pirates have now been nationally ranked at least once in four of the last five seasons; the team was last ranked on Sept. 5, 2023 at No. 23.
  • In head coach Andreas Lindberg's tenure, Seton Hall appeared in the United Soccer Coaches top-25 seven times during the 2020 season, reaching as high as No. 6. Then Seton Hall spent four weeks in the national rankings during 2021.
  • The Pirates are one of two BIG EAST teams in the current top-25, joining No. 16 Georgetown.
RESCH RECEIVES BIG EAST HONOR

  • Junior Agustin Resch (Arata, Argentina) was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Pirates win against FIU.
  • Resch scored the lone goal, his second career, in the match and helped the Pirates earn a clean sheet.


SCOUTING UALBANY

  • The Great Danes are 1-1 on the season with a season opening win over Niagara, 3-2, and most recently, a loss in their home opener to LIU, 1-0, this past Sunday.
  • The two goal scorers for UAlbany in their win were Timo Jansen, who also had an assist, and Pedro Lucas.
  • Senior goalkeeper Daniel Shannon played in both matches, allowing three goals and saving 10 shots over that span, including six saves in the season opening win.


QUICK NOTES

  • Seton Hall won its season opener under head coach Andreas Lindberg for the fifth time in seven tries, and the Pirates are unbeaten in all seven (5-0-2).
  • The Pirates are also 4-0-2 in their home openers under Lindberg and have not lost a home opener since 2016.
  • Thursday's game will be the first ever matchup between the Pirates and the Great Danes, who have competed in Div. I since 2001 in the America East Conference.

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Pirates Enter National Rankings at No. 25


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South Orange, N.J. - Coming off a 1-0 road win at FIU last week, the Seton Hall men's soccer team entered the United Soccer Coaches Poll at No. 25 in the rankings released on Tuesday afternoon. The Pirates have now been nationally ranked at least once in four of the last five seasons; the team was last ranked on Sept. 5, 2023 at No. 23.

The Pirates are one of two BIG EAST teams in the current top-25, joining No. 16 Georgetown.

Seton Hall's road win at FIU last Thursday was a 1-0 shutout over the Panthers that featured the game-winning goal by junior Agustin Resch (Arata, Argentina) on a header and three saves from junior Matias Molina (Rosario, Argentina).

In head coach Andreas Lindberg's tenure, Seton Hall appeared in the United Soccer Coaches top-25 seven times during the truncated 2020 season, reaching as high as No. 6. Then Seton Hall spent four weeks in the national rankings during 2021.

No. 25 Seton Hall will face UAlbany in its home opener Thursday night at Owen T. Carroll Field at 6:56 p.m. The game is free to attend, and schedule posters will be given away while supplies last.

Trove tidbit


Part 3 of our interview with Tony Bozzella

Bozzella on the schedule​


TROVE: The non-conference schedule has been unveiled. What are you most looking forward to about this year's slate?

BOZZELLA: We have a lot of balance in it. I think we have a lot of teams that have won their conference or are at the top three of their conference. Obviously, when you look at it quickly, you see Princeton, a perennial NCAA team. You see a Big XII team on the road in Cincinnati that's going to be a very big challenge to us. And then obviously the two bears on the schedule: USC in Palm Springs, we're the feature game at 7:00 ET on Tru TV or TBS or TNT. I don't think you can get a better slot for a game. You know, the night before Thanksgiving at 7:00 everyone's home. It's a great game playing against one of the best players in the country in JuJu Watkins. And they asked us to play in the tournament. So it's great.

And then we were asked to play in the Mohegan Sun Hall of Fame classic. They were like 'you might have to play any of these teams and obviously we are going to get LSU. And what's better than that to play one of the most marquee programs in the country? Not the defending National Champion, but the year before defending National Champion. It's pretty exciting to play them - we're at 6:00 on FS1 followed by UConn-Iowa State at the same place at 8:30 so those UConn fans better be cheering for the Big East team. I'll tell you that, right? I think I'm in good shape, though. I don't see too many of them cheering for LSU.
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