Pirates Prepare for BIG EAST Tournament Showdown at Georgetown on Saturday - Seton Hall University Athletics
WASHINGTON – The Seton Hall men's soccer team opens the BIG EAST Tournament on Saturday afternoon as it travels to take on No. 1 seed Georgetown. Kickoff i...
WASHINGTON – The Seton Hall men's soccer team opens the BIG EAST Tournament on Saturday afternoon as it travels to take on No. 1 seed Georgetown. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. and live coverage can be seen on the BIG EAST Digital Network or heard on 89.5 FM WSOU.
BACK IN THE BIG EAST TOURNEY
With last Saturday's 1-0 win over Providence, the Pirates clinched a berth in the BIG EAST Tournament for the second straight year and third time in the last four seasons. It marks the first time that the program has made consecutive trips to the BIG EAST Tournament since making 14 straight appearances from 1994-2007.
LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates celebrated Senior Day and clinched the No. 8 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament with a 1-0 win over Providence last Saturday. The lone tally came in the 70th minute after the Pirates built a counter-attack. Andrea Borg (Sliema, Malta) dribbled down the near sideline, and upon finding space to operate, forced Providence goalkeeper Lukas Burns off his line. Borg centered the ball to Hugo Gerbore (Moelan Sur Mer, France), who passed back to James Boote (Southampton, England), staring at a wide-open goal. Boote slammed home his sixth goal of the season to aid the Pirates to the win.
SCOUTING GEORGETOWN (11-2-2, 6-1-1)
- The Hoyas claimed the BIG EAST Regular Season crown and the No. 1 seed in the tournament with a 2-1 win over Marquette on Decision Day.
- Georgetown's defense has been elite all season and especially during BIG EAST contests, where it has allowed just four goals across eight conference matchups.
- The Hoyas took down the Pirates, 1-0, earlier this season in South Orange in a match that featured just 12 total shots between the two sides.
- Georgetown and Seton Hall have met four times previously in the BIG EAST Tournament, with the Pirates owning a 3-1 edge. The last meeting came in the 2020 BIG EAST Final which saw the Pirates take home their first conference title since 1991.
- James Boote and Andrea Borg each appeared in their 81st career match on Saturday against Providence, putting them in a tie for second-most games played in Seton Hall history.
- Boote and Borg have each posted 15+ point seasons in 2023, marking the first time a pair of Pirate teammates have done so since Andrew Welker and Dritan Sela in 2009.
- After entering the season with just one goal through 65 matches, James Boote has found the back of the net a team-best six times in 2023.
- Mats Roorda was named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week for the second time this season after making five saves against Providence, including a miraculous diving save in the 84th minute to keep Seton Hall in the lead.
- Seton Hall has flexed its attacking muscles as of late, scoring 19 goals over its last 10 matches. This comes on the heels of scoring just six times through the season's first six games.
- The Pirates are 15-0-1 over their last 15 matches in which they have scored the first goal.
- Seton Hall has scored five goals inside the first 10 minutes of a match this season.
- The Pirates are 10-1-5 at Owen T. Carroll Field since the start of the 2022 season.
- In the Sept. 19 win over Bucknell, a pair of Pirate reserves (Berglund, Smith) found the back of the net. This marked the first time since Sept. 10, 2021 that two Seton Hall substitutes scored in a match.
- Seton Hall did not allow a goal through the first 332:38 of the season before conceding against No. 10 Indiana. This set a new program record for longest shutout streak to begin a season, previously set back in 2005.
- Seton Hall opened the season with a 3-0 record for the first time since 2008.
- With the season opening win over Rider on Aug. 24, the Pirates improved to 5-0-3 in season openers dating back to 2016.
- Mats Roorda was named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week on Aug. 28 for his efforts in posting a pair of shutouts against Rider and Air Force. Boote was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after his five-point week.
- The Pirates face another challenging slate of matches in 2023, highlighted by five teams who made the NCAA Tournament last season. Included in those are matchups with Indiana and Creighton, both of whom made it all the way to the College Cup last fall.
- The Hall welcome 12 new faces to the program, including several potential impact transfers: Rikard Cederberg (Bellarmine), Mats Roorda (Binghamton), Jared Smith (Quinnipiac) and Tim Strobeck (Clemson).
- Three Pirates are capitalizing on their extra year of eligibility to return to Seton Hall as graduate students in 2023. James Boote, Andrea Borg and Hugo Keller will all suit back up for The Hall this season. All told, 19 players from last year's squad are back for the Pirates in 2023.
- Starting this season, the Pirates will be vying to finish inside the top-eight in the BIG EAST standings. With the addition of Akron to the league as a men's soccer affiliate member, the now-12 team conference has been split into an East Division and Midwest Division. Each division winner will qualify for the BIG EAST Championship, with the next six best teams based on conference points solidifying the remaining berths.
- Seton Hall was picked to finish fourth in the East Division. The Pirates received 36 points in the poll and sit behind third-place St. John's (40 points), second-place Providence (56 points) and first-place Georgetown (66 points).
- The Pirates finished last season in second place in the BIG EAST standings after amassing 17 points during conference play. The second place finish in the program's best since winning the regular season title back in 1991, while the 17 points in league action were the program's most since 2006.
All BEDN events can be seen on FloSports, one of the leading streaming services in the world. Special Seton Hall pricing is available only through this link for fans who want to subscribe to watch Seton Hall events, home and away, as well as all other live events on the FloSports platform. Fans with a .edu school address can purchase a subscription for $6.99 per month, and all other fans can purchase a subscription for $12.50 per month. The non-Seton Hall pricing on FloSports is normally $29.99 per month.
The link to watch all Seton Hall Men's Soccer games can be found here.
