No. 22 Pirates Host #3 Hoyas with First Place on the Line

South Orange, N.J. – The #22 Seton Hall men's soccer team will host #3 Georgetown in a BIG EAST showdown between the top two teams in the East Division on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Owen T. Carroll Field.

The Pirates will look to stay perfect at home in the first meeting between nationally ranked teams at Owen T. Carroll Field since the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament when the 20th ranked Pirates defeated #24 Hartwick, 2-0.

Seton Hall enters the game at 6-1-2 overall, 4-1-1 in the BIG EAST and 5-0-0 at home. Georgetown sits at 4-0-1 overall, in the BIG EAST and 1-0-1 on the road.

ATTENDANCE POLICY
The department will allow two parents or guardians of each Seton Hall student-athlete to attend an outdoor competition that is hosted on campus, including games at Owen T. Carroll Field for men's and women's soccer, Mike Sheppard Sr. Stadium for baseball and Mike Sheppard Sr. Field for softball.

Unfortunately, due to capacity limits, this policy does not apply towards parents or guardians of members of the opposing team or members of the general public.

LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates picked a come from behind win at St. John', 3-2 in overtime. For the Pirates, it was their first win at St. John's since 2014. It was the first time the Pirates scored three goals in a victory at Queens since 1988 when they took down the Red Storm 4-0. The Pirates are currently riding a two-game win streak and three-game unbeaten streak against St. John's; the longest of either such streak since Seton Hall won seven straight from 1986-1991.

After going down, 2-0 early in the second half, JP Marin (Briarwood, N.Y.) successfully converted a penalty kick to half the Red Storm lead. Later on in the half, CJ Tibbling (Jarna, Sweden) found the back of the net off of a Mattias Almeida Sundell (Sweden) assist. Tibbling's team-leading fourth goal of the season tied things up for the Pirates to send the game into overtime.

Just three minutes into the extra period, Raz Amir (Israel) was on the receiving end of a Denis Kelmendi (Falkenberg, Sweden) cross from Marin in the middle of the box. Amir was able to fend off the Red Storm defender and score the game-winning goal for the Pirates to complete the comeback.

SCOUTING – #3 Georgetown (4-0-1, 4-0-1)

The Hoyas are coming off a similar victory to the Pirates, defeating Villanova 3-2 in overtime after falling behind 2-0.
The 2019 National Champions have not lost a match since dropping a road fixture to Louisville, 1-0 in double overtime on Sept. 24, 2019. The Hoyas are currently outscoring opponents 9-3 on the season.
The Pirates fell in a tough road battle against the Hoyas, 2-1 in overtime earlier this season. CJ Tibbling got the scoring started for the Pirates before Georgetown would score off of two penalty kicks to win the match.

NEWS & NOTES

The last time the Pirates beat the Hoyas was a 1-0 victory at Owen T. Carroll Field in 2014. The Hoyas were also ranked third in the nation prior to that matchup as well.
The Pirates finds themselves at the #22 spot in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and #18 and #19 in polls from College Soccer News and Top Drawer Soccer, respectively. This is the first time the Pirates have been ranked nationally since 2006.
The 5-0 open at home is the best start at Owen T. Carroll Field for the Pirates since 1999 when they started 7-0.
The Hall leads the BIG EAST in shutouts with five clean sheets on the campaign.
Senior goalkeeper Andreas Nota (Rome, Italy) has been fantastic for the Pirates between the pipes this season. Nota has had a hand in all five Pirate shutouts this season with three of them coming in BIG EAST play, good enough for tops in the` conference. Nota's Goals Allowed Average sits at 0.64, which is on pace to shatter the previous single-season.
Seton Hall is currently outscoring its opponents 9-2 in the first half this season. In total on the year, Seton Hall has only trailed a collective 35:26 of game time.

WATCH
The game will be broadcast live on the Pirate Sports Network. Live stats can be found here.

WHAT'S AHEAD
The Pirates will have a week of rest before wrapping up their home schedule with a matchup against UConn next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.