No. 11 Pirates Clash with No. 2 Hoyas with BIG EAST Title on the Line - Seton Hall University Athletics
WASHINGTON – The No. 11 Seton Hall men's soccer team will compete for a BIG EAST Championship when they take on No. 2 Georgetown in the BIG EAST Tournament Final
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WASHINGTON – The No. 11 Seton Hall men's soccer team will compete for a BIG EAST Championship when they take on No. 2 Georgetown in the BIG EAST Tournament Final at 3 p.m at Georgetown's Shaw Field. The appearance in the Championship Final is the first for the Pirates since 2004. The program has not won a BIG EAST Championship since 1991 when they won four in a six-year span (1986, 1987, 1988, 1991).
LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates handled No. 17 Marquette 4-1 in their first BIG EAST Tournament appearance since 2012 in the BIG EAST Semifinals on Thursday. The four goals for the Pirates were the most for them since they scored four against NJIT in 2019. The Pirates did their scoring in bunches picking up two goals in the match's first 10 minutes and goals in both the 59th and 60th minute to advance them to their first BIG EAST Championship Final since 2004.
Maurice Williams (West Orange, N.J.) tallied twice for the Pirates, once in each half, while CJ Tibbling (Jarna, Sweden) and Mattias Almeida Sundell (Sweden) also scored for The Hall. Sundell scored his first goal as a Pirate in the sixth minute to get the Pirates on the board. Minutes later, a James Boote (Southampton, England) free kick was redirected by Almeida Sundell to Williams who put the Pirates up two, just 10 minutes into the match.
Williams again found the back of the net on a Boote free kick, this time in the 59th minute. Tibbling put the finishing touches on the game just a minute later on a left-footed rocket assisted by Almeida Sundell.
SCOUTING – No. 2 Georgetown (8-0-2, 7-0-2)
- The Hoyas defeated Creighton, 1-0, in the other semifinal on Thursday. Joe DaLuz scored the lone goal of the match for the Hoyas.
- The Pirates went 0-1-1 in two matchups with Georgetown this season. In the first matchup of the season, Seton Hall fell 2-1 in OT as the Hoyas were able to convert off two penalty kicks at home. In the second meeting, this time at Owen T. Carroll Field, the Pirates used a late equalizer from Eden O'Leary (Tel Aviv, Israel) to draw with then-No. 3 Georgetown 1-1.
- The Hoyas lead the all-time series 20-16-4 with the last Pirate win on the road coming in 2006. The Hoyas have not lost a BIG EAST matchup in 901 days.
NEWS & NOTES
- Seton Hall and Georgetown have met in the BIG EAST Tournament three previous times: the Pirates beat the Hoyas in the 1988 semifinals, 2-0, on their way to a title; they lost to the Hoyas in the 1994 semifinals, 2-1, and they beat the Hoyas in the 2004 semifinals, 1-0 in overtime.
- Sophomore James Boote has been terrific on set pieces for Pirates this season. Boote has six assists in the last six games for The Hall and seven helpers on the season. That total leads the BIG EAST and is good for fifth in the nation.
- Seton Hall is currently outscoring its opponents 11-2 in the first half this season. In total on the year, Seton Hall has only trailed a collective 41:34 of game time.
- In just his third season at the helm, Seton Hall Head Coach Andreas Lindberg and his staff were awarded the BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year award, as voted on by the BIG EAST Coaches. Assistants Jeff Matteo and Ali Simmons and volunteer assistant Dan Solli share in the honor with Lindberg. This is the second time the Seton Hall coaching staff has been awarded as the staff of the year. The 2005 staff of Manfred Schellscheidt, Kazbek Tambi, Gerson Echeverry and Arda Altincatal also won the award.
- The Seton Hall men's soccer team had five Pirates named to All-BIG EAST Teams. The five members selected to all-conference teams is tied for the highest total in program history when the Pirates also had five All-BIG EAST honorees in 2005. Highlighting the selections for the Pirates are two All-BIG EAST First Team members in CJ Tibbling and Luca Dahn. After a solid season between the posts for The Hall, goalkeeper Andreas Nota was awarded a spot on the All-BIG EAST Second Team. Rounding out the Pirates' all-conference selections with Third Team honors are JP Marin and Johannes Pex.
- The Pirates currently sit at No. 11 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. The Hall has ranked as high as No. 9 on April 6. It was the highest ranking for the Pirates since they began the 1990 season at No. 7. It is the Pirates' first season being ranked top-25 nationally since 2006.
The game will be nationally televised on FS2 and the FOX Sports app with John Fanta and Tom Greaser on the call.
