No. 6 Pirates Square Off with Virginia Tech in Round of 16 - Seton Hall University Athletics
South Orange, N.J. – Looking to build on the program's most successful season since in recent history, the No. 6 Seton Hall men's soccer team will take on Virginia
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South Orange, N.J. – Looking to build on the program's most successful season in recent history, the No. 6 Seton Hall men's soccer team will take on Virginia Tech in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 16 on Thursday. Kickoff is set for 9 p.m. at WakeMed Field #4 in Cary, N.C.
After winning their first NCAA Tournament game since 2005 with a 2-1 victory over Air Force, the Pirates will look to advance to the quarter finals for the first time since 1988. Thursday's match will be streamed live on NCAA.com.
LAST TIME OUT
In a thrilling victory, CJ Tibbling (Jarna, Sweden) scored the game-winning goal in the 89th minute to put the Pirates over the Air Force Falcons, 2-1. The goal was Tibbling's team-leading seventh of the season and second game-winning goal in as many matches with his tally on April 17 helping the Pirates defeat Georgetown and capture the BIG EAST Tournament Championship.
After a scoreless first half, the Pirates struck first on a James Boote (Southampton, England) freekick in the 64th minute that JP Marin (Briarwood, N.Y.) headed past the Falcon keeper for the first goal of the game and Marin's third on the season.
Air Force would respond with an equalizer in the 75th minute when Tristan Trager floated one just past the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Andreas Nota (Rome, Italy). Nota came away with two saves in the victory. Sophomore Johannes Pex (Stephansposching, Germany) threw the ball in to Tibbling in the Air Force penalty area who played the ball with his back to the net before turning and firing a right-footed strike for the game-winning goal.
SCOUTING – Virginia Tech (7-6-3, 5-5-2)
- The Hokies are also coming off a last-second game-winner as they defeated Oregon State 2-1 in overtime.
- Jacob Labovitz scored both goals for Virginia Tech with the second of the two coming in the 100th minute just one second before time expired in the first overtime period. Labovitz leads the team with nine goals on the season.
- The Hokies have now advanced to three consecutive Rounds of 16 and four since 2016.
- The Pirates are 2-0 against Virginia Tech in the all-time series with wins coming in the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
NEWS & NOTES
- Sophomore James Boote has been terrific on set pieces for Pirates this season. Boote has seven assists in the last eight games for The Hall and eight 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 12-3 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. 6 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll. This the highest ranking for The Hall since they ended the 1988 season in the No. 3 slot. It's the second highest ranking in school history. Seton Hall has now been ranked in the top 25 for six consecutive weeks. It is the Pirates' first season being ranked top-25 nationally since 2006.
The game will be streamed live with statistics through NCAA.com