WSOC Looks to Extend Streak at Villanova
10/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall women's soccer team faces its final road test of the regular season on Sunday, traveling to Villanova to take on the Wildcats with three crucial points up for grabs as both squads look to make a push to secure a BIG EAST Tournament berth.
Playing away from home for the 10th time in 16 matches, The Hall (3-8-4, 0-4-2 BIG EAST) aims to regain the attacking form that saw the Pirates hang five goals on visiting Villanova last season. A 5-0 Seton Hall victory continued a recent run of dominance that has seen SHU top their longtime rivals in each of the last four seasons; out-scoring the Wildcats by an 11-0 margin during the stretch.
Senior Angie Shehaj (East Brunswick, N.J.) put the final touches on last season's victory over Villanova, heading home a feed from sophomore Sarah Cortes (Paramus, N.J.) who finished with three assists in 41 minutes off the bench in the contest.
Cortes recently returned to action after missing time due to injury and ranks second on the team in points this fall. Head coach Rick Stainton's side has shown flashes of attacking ability and most recently, the Pirates controlled the first 20 minutes of play at Marquette on Thursday before three goals off corner kicks for the Golden Eagles created an ultimately insurmountable deficit.
The Hall continues to defend well however as the Pirates traveled to Milwaukee having allowed two goals in their last three outings including draws with Creighton and Xavier. Even with the result at Marquette, Seton Hall has not conceded a goal in the run of play since September 28 against Butler.
Despite having entered conference play with two victories, Villanova has emerged as one of the top defensive units in the league as well. Coming off a 2-0 win over the Bluejays, the Wildcats (5-8-2, 3-3-0 BIG EAST) currently sit in the final postseason position in the BIG EAST standings and have earned the spot by keeping the ball out of their own net.
Similar to Seton Hall's Illissa Blackshear (West Orange, N.J.), sophomore keeper Emma Meyer has emerged as one of the top players at her position league-wide dafter having not seen action as a freshman.
The clean sheet against Creighton was Meyer's third of the conference season and her impressive numbers against league opposition currently rank among the top-two in the BIG EAST in every major statistical category.
As a team, Villanova has allowed four goals in six conference matches, second to only a St. John's side that has yielded just two goals to BIG EAST foes.
For all their success on the defensive end, Villanova has also had difficulty finding goals of their own, ranking ninth in the league in shots and scoring less than one goal per game (0.83).
An early breakthrough could go a long way towards helping the Pirates bring home three points from their trip to the main line as Seton Hall enters the matchup between the two defensive stalwarts unbeaten in the four matches in which they have struck first (3-0-1).
Start-time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. Follow @SHUWSOCCER on Twitter for updates throughout the match.
