Pirates Set to Kick Off 2018

South Orange, N.J. – The Seton Hall women's soccer team returns to action in 2018 looking to build on a promising young core with help from solid veteran leadership. Led by head coach Rick Stainton, the team boasts a strong class of 10 incoming freshmen along with an experienced sophomore class.

Among those second-year players is Cassy Harrigan (Beaverton, Ore.), who tied for second on the team in points last season, as well as Dani Brinkman (Glastonbury, Conn.) and Izzy Engel (Crescent, Pa.) who each saw extended minutes as freshmen.

"With the sophomores, they showed how they can influence this team and the progress we can make. My hope is that they don't take that for granted and continue their growth to make an even bigger impact than last year," said Stainton, who is entering his fifth season as head coach for the Pirates.

Eager to build off last year's offensive output, the team returns 77.2 percent of its scoring from last season, including leading points-getter, senior forward Julia Stirpe (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) and leading shot-taker, junior Marissa Aniolowski (Enfield, Conn.).

While on the pitch, the Pirates will be led by their three captains, juniors Siobhan McGovern (Cranford, N.J.) and Eva Gonzalez (Mesquite, Texas), and senior defender Taylor Cutcliff (Springfield, Pa.).

"We return a lot of experienced players," said Stainton. "We now have seniors who have put in a lot of time, a lot of minutes through their freshman, sophomore, and junior years to get to this point. They've put a lot of sacrifice, effort, and commitment into what we're doing this year."

The Pirates displayed a stout defensive front last season that allowed one goal or less in 10 of its 17 matches. Much of that success was due in part to the play of retuning senior goalkeeper, Anna MacLean (Thunder Bay, Ontario). The team will also get a boost from defender Sarah Schweinberg (Wantage, N.J.) who missed most of last season due to injury after starting all 17 matches in her rookie campaign.

"We've been pretty stingy on the defensive end and that's a big emphasis of ours. For us, it's about defending first and creating good attacking opportunities with numbers around the ball," said Stainton.

The team officially opens its season Friday with a 3 p.m. match at Siena before returning home to face Delaware for a 6:30 p.m. kick on Sunday at Owen T. Carroll. Sunday's home contest will be broadcast live on the Pirate Sports Network.

The Pirates will play nine non-conference matches before opening BIG EAST at home against DePaul on Sept. 22.