No. 6 Pirates Take on Air Force in NCAA Second Round - Seton Hall University Athletics
South Orange, N.J. – In a historic season and turnaround year for the program, the No. 6 Seton Hall men's soccer team will compete in its first NCAA Tournament since
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South Orange, N.J. – In a historic season and turnaround year for the program, the No. 6 Seton Hall men's soccer team will compete in its first NCAA Tournament since 2005 when they take on Air Force on Sunday.
After winning their first BIG EAST Championships since 1991, and compiling a 9-1-3 mark during the season, the Pirates will represent the conference as the automatic qualifier for the 2020 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. The Hall is slotted in as the No. 6 overall seed with the match set to take place at Sportsplex in Matthews, N.C., with kickoff set for 8 p.m.
This will be The Hall's 12th NCAA appearance in school history. With a consolidated field of 36 teams, Seton Hall will see its first action in the second round of the tournament, the sixth time in program history the Pirates have reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament and the first since 2005. The Pirates are 5-11-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament reaching as far as the quarter finals in 1988.
LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates captured their first BIG EAST Championship since 1991 with a 2-1 victory over the then-No. 2 ranked and defending national champion Georgetown on their own field. Camil Koreichi (Paris, France) got the scoring started with his first goal of the season in the 16th minute on a through ball from CJ Tibbling (Jarna, Sweden).
The Hoyas would tie things up in the 34th minute to knot the match at one goal apiece heading into halftime. On a pass from Mattias Almeida Sundell (Sweden), Tibbling was able to beat the final Hoya defender before finding the back of the net to put the Pirates ahead in the 63rd minute. Goalkeeper Andreas Nota (Rome, Italy) was able to seal the deal for The Hall when he successfully stopped a penalty kick in the 68th minute.
SCOUTING – Air Force (7-4-1, 4-4-1)
- The Falcons come into Sunday's matching as the Western Athletic Conference Champions following wins over San Jose State, UTRGV and Grand Canyon in the WAC Tournament.
- Air Force have had 12 different players tally goals and are outscoring their opponents 21-13 on the season.
- In net for the Falcons is junior Kainoa Likewise, who in over 1100 minutes this season has 53 saves and a Goals Against Average of 1.05.
- After starting the season with a win over Dixie State, the Falcons went without a win for five straight matches before going on to win six in a row to capture the WAC title.
NEWS & NOTES
- In the lone meeting all-time between the two programs, the Pirates handled the Falcons 6-0 as part of a 2-0 run at the BAE Systems Army Fall Classic to start the 2005 campaign, the last season in which the program made the NCAA Tournament prior to this year.
- Sophomore James Boote (Southampton, England) has been terrific on set pieces for Pirates this season. Boote has six assists in the last seven games for The Hall and seven helpers on the season. That total leads the BIG EAST and is good for sixth 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 is 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 through Wingate Athletics' YouTube channel. The link to stream the game is listed here.
