Pirates Unveil 2023 Men's Soccer Schedule - Seton Hall University Athletics
South Orange, N.J. – The Seton Hall men's soccer team has announced its full schedule for the 2023 season. The Pirates will once again face a strong non-co...
South Orange, N.J. – The Seton Hall men's soccer team has announced its full schedule for the 2023 season. The Pirates will once again face a strong non-conference schedule of eight matches as well as eight fixtures within BIG EAST play for a total of 16 match days.
New for 2023, eight teams will qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament. The BIG EAST has been split into two divisions, East and Midwest, with the top team in each division receiving the top two seeds in the tournament. The remaining six seeds will be determined by conference point total regardless of division. The Pirates have been placed in the East Division alongside Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, St. John's and Villanova.
Seton Hall will square off against four teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year. All four teams won at least one game during the tournament, with both Indiana and Creighton reached the College Cup. Of the Pirates' 16 opponents, five finished last season in the RPI top-30 and eight were inside the top-45.
Seton Hall will open its 2023 season the same way it opened last season, hosting Rider for a Thursday night clash on Aug. 24. Three days later on Sunday, Aug. 27, the Pirates will welcome Air Force to South Orange, marking the first of two rematches from Seton Hall's 2020 NCAA Tournament run.
The Pirates will spend Labor Day weekend in Bloomington, Ind. taking part in the IU Classic, where they will face a pair of Big 10 foes. First up is Ohio State, who will do battle with the Pirates on Friday, Sep. 1. Next on Sep. 4, Seton Hall and Indiana will go head-to-head for the first time since their meeting in the NCAA Quarterfinals in the spring of 2021. The Hoosiers reached the National Championship last season before falling to Syracuse in penalty kicks.
The schedule features four more non-conference fixtures, three of which will take place at Owen T. Carroll Field. After a trip to Harvard (9/9), the Pirates will play host to Bucknell (9/19), Stony Brook (10/3) and Princeton (10/10).
Friday, Sep. 15 signals the start of BIG EAST play, with the Pirates welcoming four-time reigning BIG EAST regular season champion Georgetown to South Orange. Seton Hall will also host Connecticut (9/23), Creighton (10/14) and Providence (10/28) during league action.
On Friday, Sep. 29, the Pirates hit the road in conference play for the first time to face to BIG EAST-newcomer, Akron. The Zips are entering their first season as a BIG EAST affiliate member in men's soccer and bring a strong track record to the league, winning the national title in 2010 and finishing as runner-up in 2018. Other road fixtures for the Pirates include Villanova (10/7), St. John's (10/18) and DePaul (10/21).
The Pirates are coming off their second NCAA Tournament berth in three seasons in 2022, a year which saw them finish 7-4-7 (4-1-5 BIG EAST). Seton Hall's 17 points in conference action netted them the No. 2 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament, the program's best finish in the regular season standings since 1991.
