No. 6 Pirates Take on No. 2 Indiana for Rematch 32 Years in the Making - Seton Hall University Athletics
Cary, N.C. – After advancing to NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals for the second time program history, the No. 6-ranked Pirates will take on the Indiana Hooise...
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Cary, N.C. – After advancing to NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals for the second time program history, the No. 6-ranked Pirates will take on the Indiana Hooisers, the same team the Pirates fell to in their first quarterfinals appearance in 1988. The Hooiser are the second-ranked team in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and third overall seed in the tournament. The match will be streamed live through NCAA.com with kickoff set for Monday at 5 p.m., at WakeMed Soccer Park Field 4 in Cary, N.C. The Pirates are looking to advance to their first College Cup in program history.
LAST TIME OUT
After coming from behind twice, the Pirates advanced past Virginia Tech in a penalty kick shootout, 7-6 on Thursday night at WakeMed Soccer Park. Senior goalkeeper Andreas Nota (Rome, Italy) made two stops on penalty kicks before calling his own number and stepping up to bury the clinching penalty to advance the Pirates past the Hokies.
In regulation, trailing 1-0 with 26 seconds left to play in the first period, Maurice Williams (West Orange, N.J.) got his head on a James Boote (Southampton, England) free kick to even the score just before half. The Pirates finally broke through after outshooting the Hokies 13-1 in the first half. The goal for Williams was his third of the year while Boote picked up his ninth assist of the year and eighth in the last nine games.
Despite the huge advantage held by the Pirates in shots, the Hokies retook the lead in the 56th minute. With a little under 10 minutes remaining and the season on the line, Andrea Borg (Sliema, Malta) stepped up in a big way. Off of a Boote corner, the ball was loose in front of the net when Borg was able to get his foot to it and find the equalizer for the Pirates. Borg's goal was his first of the season after tallying twice last season.
The Pirates would go on to beat the Hokies 7-6 on penalties for the Pirates' second penalty shootout win in their NCAA Tournament history. The Pirates took down Adelphi on PKs in the 1991 NCAA Tournament.
SCOUTING – No. 2 Indiana (10-1-2, 7-1-0)
- The Hoosiers advanced on PKs in their second-round game over St. Francis Brooklyn before scoring two goals late against Marquette for a 2-1 victory in the third round.
- Indiana has not lost a game since they fell at Northwestern 1-0 on Feb. 27. They have only allowed five goals on the season.
- Victor Bezerra leads the Hoosier on the attack with 12 goals and three assists for 27 points on the season.
- In net, Roman Celentano had played all but seven minutes for the Hoosiers with a Goals Against Average of 0.32 in over 1100 minutes this year.
- The Hoosiers have made the NCAA Tournament in 34 straight seasons with eight national championships in program history.
- In addition to the 1988 defeat in the quarterfinals, the Pirates also fell in their other matchul with the Hoosier the year prior, a 3-2 setback.
- The Pirates are looking for their first College Cup appearance in program history.
- Sophomore James Boote has been terrific on set pieces for Pirates this season. Boote has eight assists in the last nine games for The Hall and nine helpers on the season. That total leads the BIG EAST and is good for fourth in the nation.
- This is The Hall's 12th NCAA appearance in school history. The Pirates reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005. The Pirates are 6-11-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament reaching as far as the quarterfinals in 1988.
- Senior goalkeeper Andreas Nota has been fantastic for the Pirates between the pipes this season. Nota has had a hand in all six Pirate shutouts this season with four of them coming in BIG EAST play. Nota's Goals Allowed Average sits at 0.77 which is on pace to break the Seton Hall single season record. With 41 saves to his credit, Nota has been a three-time selection on the conference's Honor Roll this season.
- Seton Hall won its first BIG EAST Tournament Championship since 1991 after defeating No. 2 ranked Georgetown, 2-1, in title game at Shaw Field. Junior CJ Tibbling scored the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute. It was the fifth title in program history. The Pirates also won three in a row from 1986-88.
- 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 seven 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.