George Velasquez Named Preseason All-BIG EAST
8/13/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug 13, 2013
NEW YORK - Seton Hall University men's soccer senior forward George Velasquez (Union City, N.J.) landed a spot on the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team it was announced Tuesday afternoon by the BIG EAST league office.
Velasquez, who led the Pirates in conference-only scoring with four goals and two assists for 10 points during the 2012 season, lands a preseason All-BIG EAST spot for the first time in his career.
The BIG EAST also released the men's soccer preseason coaches' poll, where the Pirates were picked to finish in ninth place in the 10-team league with 18 points. The 2012 NCAA national runner-up Georgetown University Hoyas are the favorites to capture the conference crown, garnering 79 points and seven first-place votes to edge the Creighton Bluejays in the preseason rankings.
Marquette University (63 points), St. John's University (59 points) and Xavier University (49 points) rounded out the top-five. Villanova University was tabbed to finish sixth with 42 points, followed by Providence College (25 points), Butler University (24 points), Seton Hall, and DePaul University (17 points).
Velasquez enjoyed a breakout junior campaign for the Pirates in 2012 when he ranked second overall on the team in scoring with four goals and three assists for 11 points, while leading the Hall in BIG EAST matches. He logged 1161 minutes while making 15 starts and 18 overall appearances.
In Seton Hall's 2-1 victory over Providence last season, Velasquez provided the assist on a first-half scoring strike before accounting for the game-winning goal in the second half, the first game-winning score of his career.
Velasquez turned in the biggest offensive performance of his career in the Pirates' 4-1 rout of the Pittsburgh Panthers on Oct. 6. He netted a second game winner in as many matches and finished with a pair of scores to go along with an assist to net five points. The performance against Pittsburgh landed Velasquez on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the first time in his career.
Second-year head coach Gerson Echeverry will welcome back 10 starters from last year's team including the top four offensive threats when camp opens on Thursday, Aug. 15.
Senior forward Max Garcia (Jersey City, N.J.) paced the Pirates with seven goals and three assists for a team-high 17 points, tallying a goal and two assists in BIG EAST play. Junior midfielder/back Christian Battistesa (South Bound Brook, N.J.) scored two goals with an assist last season and junior midfielder Konrad Plewa (Maniowy, Poland) led Seton Hall with five assists.
Seton Hall also returns a pair of defenders that started in the backfield in all 18 matches in 2012 in junior Mateusz Brela (Kielce, Poland) and sophomore Julian Kennedy (Nindorf, Germany).
The Pirates finished last season with a 6-12 overall record and a 2-6 mark in BIG EAST play where they placed fifth in the Blue Division to qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 2007.
Seton Hall hosts the College of New Jersey for an exhibition matchup on Friday, Aug. 23, at Owen T. Carroll Field at 3 p.m., and Bloomfield College on Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m. The Pirates' regular season opener comes at home against the University of Rhode Island on Friday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m.
2013 BIG EAST Men's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll
| 1. | Georgetown (7) | 79 |
| 2. | Creighton (3) | 75 |
| 3. | Marquette | 63 |
| 4. | St. John's | 59 |
| 5. | Xavier | 49 |
| 6. | Villanova | 42 |
| 7. | Providence | 25 |
| 8. | Butler | 24 |
| 9. | Seton Hall | 18 |
| 10. | DePaul | 17 |
2013 BIG EAST Men's Soccer Preseason All-BIG EAST Team
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year - Steve Neumann, Georgetown
Preseason Defensive Players of the Year - Axel Sjoberg, Marquette; Tim Parker, St. John's
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year - Rafael Diaz, St. John's
Forwards
*Brandon Allen, So., Georgetown
*Steve Neumann, Sr., Georgetown
C. Nortey, So., Marquette
George Velasquez, Sr., Seton Hall
Dylan Renna, Sr., Villanova
Midfielders
Timo Pitter, So., Creighton
*Bryan Ciesiulka, Sr., Marquette
Oscar Umar, Jr., Villanova
Matt Walker, Sr., Xavier
Backs
Eric Miller, Jr., Creighton
Axel Sjoberg, So., Marquette
*Tim Parker, So., St. John's
Nick Hagglund, Sr., Xavier
Goalkeeper
Rafael Diaz, So., St. John's
*denotes unanimous selection
Note: Because of a tie in the voting, a position at forward was added.
