Pirates Welcome Air Force to South Orange on Sunday Night

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Pirates Welcome Air Force to South Orange on Sunday Night - Seton Hall University Athletics

South Orange, N.J. – Another season of Seton Hall men's soccer gets underway on Thursday night as the Pirates welcome Rider to Owen T. Carroll Field. Kickoff...

shupirates.com

LAST TIME OUT

The Pirates remained unbeaten over their last eight season openers with a 1-0 triumph over Rider on Thursday night. James Boote's (Southampton, England) 10th minute goal proved to be the difference, as the graduate student scored off a rebound from the edge of the six-yard box to put the Pirates ahead.

SCOUTING AIR FORCE

• The Falcons are the reigning WAC regular season champions and were picked to finish third in the league by the coaches.
• Air Force fell in its season opener on Thursday night to Army, 3-2.
• This will be the third matchup in the series all time and the first since the Pirates and Falcons met in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament back in the Spring of 2021. The Pirates won that match, 2-1, thanks to an 89th minute game-winner from CJ Tibbling.
• Eight Pirates remain on this year's roster from the 2020 squad that took down Air Force: Ian Albuquerque, Mattias Almeida Sundell, James Boote, Andrea Borg, Pierce Enxuto, Hugo Keller, Mans Saebbo and Mark Walier. Just one Air Force player remains from their 2020 squad: Luke Hill.
• Seton Hall has won both meetings in the series with Air Force, as they also own a 6-0 victory over the Falcons back in 2005.

NEWS & NOTES

• With Thursday's win over Rider, the Pirates improve to 5-0-3 in season openers dating back to 2016.
• Boote's goal was the second of his career, both of which have been game-winners. His other goal came in the 2-1 victory over Villanova on Oct. 22, 2022.
• A win would give the Pirates their first 2-0 start to a season since 2018 and just their second since 2008.
• 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 No. 2 Indiana and No. 8 Creighton, who both 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.

WATCH
All PSN 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.

 

[catholicman]

Nice 3 - 0 win for the Pirates.

 

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Early Goals Push Pirates to 3-0 Victory Over Air Force - Seton Hall University Athletics

South Orange, N.J. – The Pirates improved to 2-0 on the young season with another solid all-around performance on Sunday night as part of a 3-0 victory ove...

shupirates.com

Early Goals Push Pirates to 3-0 Victory Over Air Force​

South Orange, N.J. – The Pirates improved to 2-0 on the young season with another solid all-around performance on Sunday night as part of a 3-0 victory over Air Force. James Boote (Southampton, England) scored and recorded an assist while JARED SMITH tallied a pair of helpers in front of Mats Roorda (Groningen, Netherlands), who notched his second straight shutout.

How it Happened
The Pirates got things started early, as Boote sent in a cross from the right of the penalty area in the ninth minute. After the pass deflected off of Smith, Tim Strobeck (Hasselholm, Sweden) sent one past the Air Force keeper and into the back of the net to open the scoring.

Just over a minute later, The Hall would record its second tally of the night. Andrea Borg (Sliema, Malta) was taken down just inside the penalty box, and the graduate would step up and bury the penalty kick to double the Seton Hall lead.

The Falcons looked to respond just a few minutes later, but Roorda stood up to the challenge in goal. With Air Force threatening in the attacking third, a blistering shot from Remi Smith looked ticketed for goal. Roorda reacted quickly, getting both hands up to deflect the ball over the crossbar and out of danger.

Midway through the second half, the Pirates would salt the game away with a third goal. Smith swung in a corner kick from the near side, which trickled over to Sam Bjork (Huskvarna, Sweden) in open space. Bjork passed it back to Boote at the edge of the box, who stepped into a shot that found the near post to give the captain his second goal in as many matches.

News & Notes

• The Pirates have opened the season with back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 2005, when they had clean sheets against each of their first three foes. The second of those three consecutive shutouts also came against Air Force.
• The Pirates improve to 3-0 all-time against Air Force and have outscored the Falcons 11-1 over those meetings.
• Boote has scored goals in back-to-back matches after tallying just one goal over his first 65 career games.
• Boote posted a multi-point effort for the first time since notching two assists in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals against Marquette on Apr. 15, 2021.
• Strobeck' goal comes in his first match as a Pirate after transferring from Clemson.
• Smith picked up his first two points as a Pirate.
• Tyler Fernandes (Harrison, N.J.), Diego Fernandez (Landing, N.J.) and Olivier Karbownik (Maplewood, N.J.) each made their first collegiate appearances.

Up Next
The Pirates will hit the road for Labor Day weekend as they travel to Bloomington, Ind. to take part in the IU Classic. The Hall will take on Ohio State on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m.

 

[TrueBlue1989]

Impressive win.