MSOC Unveils Complete 2013 Schedule
6/3/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall University men's soccer team has unveiled its complete 2013 fall schedule, it was announced Monday by head men's soccer coach Gerson Echeverry.
The Pirates' challenging slate will feature 18 regular season matches and a pair of exhibition contests with a nine conference games in the revamped BIG EAST Conference. Seton Hall will kick off the regular season on Friday, Aug. 30, when it hosts Rhode Island University at Owen T. Carroll Field in South Orange, N.J., at 7 p.m.
Out of the Pirates' 18 opponents, six of them competed in the NCAA Tournament last season, including five conference foes. Out of conference Seton Hall will face NCAA at-large qualifier Drexel University from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) at home on Sunday, Sept. 1. Just five days later the Pirates will head down to West Long Branch, N.J., to face regional power Monmouth.
"When we started making the schedule we thought it was important to see how we stacked up right off the bat," Echeverry said. "We really want to challenge ourselves for BIG EAST play. We believe our conference is very strong, and the only way to prepare for that is to make sure we play teams that are going to mirror what we face later in the season."
"Drexel is a very tough team with a lot of experienced players coming back from being in the tournament, that will be a very difficult task," Echeverry added. "After that we are at Monmouth, who we were able to upset last year, so you know they are going to be ready for us. They have a very strong recruiting class coming in and playing at their place is going to be a tough game."
The remainder of the initial early season dates feature home matches against the University of Delaware (Sept. 10) and Bucknell University (Sept. 21) while the Pirates will travel to George Mason University (Sept. 13) and Princeton University (Sept. 15).
Conference play officially kicks off on the road, as Seton Hall will swing up to Providence, R.I., to face Providence College on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 1 p.m. Interspersed between conference showdowns will be two more midweek out of conference tilts, an away contest at Rider University on Wednesday, Oct. 2, and a home matchup with New Jersey Institute of Technology on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Five of the 10 teams in the BIG EAST competed in the NCAA Tournament in 2012 including familiar faces in Marquette University, St. John's University and Georgetown University. Newcomer Creighton University won the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) crown last season, while Xavier University picked up an at-large spot out of the Atlantic 10.
Half of last year's NCAA College Cup field now resides in the BIG EAST in Creighton and Georgetown, with the Hoyas earning national runner-up status in 2012.
"The BIG EAST is going to stack up with the best conference across the country and it's only going to get better," Echeverry said. "It is going to be a very daunting challenge, but this is where we want to be. We want to be able to get our program to the point that we are in the top half of the BIG EAST and consistently able to fight not only for BIG EAST Championships but also consistently head into the postseason."
A week after the Providence match the Pirates will travel to Washington, D.C., to take on Georgetown on Saturday, Oct. 5. After that five of Seton Hall's remaining seven conference contests will be played at Owen T. Carroll Field.
The Pirates host Villanova University on Wednesday, Oct. 9, Butler University on Saturday, Oct. 12, DePaul University on Saturday, Oct. 19, Creighton on Saturday, Oct. 26, and close out the regular season with a home game against St. John's University on Friday, Nov. 8.
Seton Hall's other two road BIG EAST games will come at Xavier University on Wednesday, Oct. 23, and against Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The Pirates' final stretch of the regular season features four-straight games against NCAA Tournament teams in Xavier, Creighton, Marquette and St. John's, but as Echeverry points out, two of those matches are at home and establishing Owen T. Carroll Field as a daunting place to visit will be critical in Seton Hall's ability to emerge as one of the powers in the BIG EAST.
"We have to defend our home field, that is one of the things we have to improve on if we are going to succeed," Echeverry said. "When teams come to Seton Hall they need to know they are in for a battle and feel fortunate if they get out of here with a tie. That has to be our goal and our mentality; we have to make teams respect us when they come to South Orange."
The 2013 BIG EAST Championship will feature a new format, with the top six teams in the conference standings qualifying for postseason play.
The top-two seeds will receive a bye into the conference semifinals, while the three through six seeds will play on campus sites in the BIG EAST quarterfinals on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
The BIG EAST semifinals and championship will take place Friday-Sunday, Nov. 15-17, at a neutral site that is to be announced at a later date.
The 2013 season figures to be both exciting and challenging, with difficult tests awaiting the Pirates from the outset while the BIG EAST figures to factor into the national discussion all season long.
"This could be a very challenging season and we definitely have our hands full," Echeverry said. "Right now our guys know they can't relax in any games and that includes the out of conference games."
