Riihijarvi Named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week; Marin on Honor Roll

NEW YORK – Seton Hall's Paavo Riihijarvi (Oulu, Finland) was named the BIG EAST Conference men's soccer Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. Junior JP Marin (Briarwood, N.Y.) was also awarded a spot on the Honor Roll.

Riihijarvi was an instrumental part of a Seton Hall back line that picked up two shutout victories, including a 1-0 win over regional-rival St. John's to open BIG EAST play. The transfer also scored the lone goal in the win over the Red Storm when he found the back of the net in just the second minute of the match. Riihijarvi played in 148 of the 180 shutout minutes for The Hall on the week.

On the offensive end, Marin picked up both assists in a 2-0 win over Fairleigh Dickinson before assisting on Riihijarvi's goal against St. John's. Marin was awarded the helper on each of the Pirates' three goals during the week. The junior logged 177 of a total 180 minutes in the two shutouts.

Riihijarvi and Marin are the second and third Pirates to earn weekly honors this season after Jake Barrett was named Freshman of the Week last week.

Georgetown's Dante Polvara was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week, while Providence's Rimi Olatunji was named Goalkeeper of the Week. Chris Hegardt, also of Georgetown earned Freshman of the Week honors.

Seton Hall will return to action on Wednesday when they travel to take on last year's national champion, Georgetown. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m.