Pirates Play Host to Creighton on Saturday Afternoon

South Orange, N.J. – Seton Hall men's soccer continues its quest for a berth in the BIG EAST Tournament on Saturday afternoon with an important home showdown with Creighton. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloFC.

SOFT COOLER GIVEAWAY
As we celebrate Seton Hall Weekend and welcome our alums back to campus, swing by Owen T. Carroll Field to catch the men's soccer team in action. Upon entry, fans will receive a free soft cooler bag while supplies last!

LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates closed out non-conference action with a 3-1 home victory over Princeton on Tuesday night. Sam Bjork (Huskvarna, Sweden) got the scoring started for the Pirates, burying his second goal of the season in the eighth minute for a 1-0 lead. After the Tigers equalized, Seton Hall quickly responded as Andrea Borg (Sliema, Malta) laced a shot into the left upper 90 to help the home side regain the lead. In the second half, Tim Ströbeck (Hasselholm, Sweden) iced the game with his third goal of the season in the 80^th minute.

SCOUTING CREIGHTON (3-4-5, 2-1-1 BIG EAST)

The Bluejays, who entered the season ranked No. 8 in the United Soccer Coaches rankings, enter play at 3-4-5 (2-1-1) on the season.
Creighton's seven points in BIG EAST action is good enough to slot them as the No. 4 seed in the current league standings with four match days remaining.
The Bluejays have faced a challenging slate in 2023 coming off a BIG EAST Tournament title and a run all the way to the College Cup last Fall.
Creighton and Seton Hall met twice last season, with the Pirates going 0-1-1 in those meetings. The sides drew 1-1 on Seton Hall Weekend last season, a match which saw Quenzi Huerman bury a 90^th minute PK to secure a point. The teams met again in the BIG EAST Tournament semifinal where the Bluejays took down the Pirates to advance to the final.

NEWS & NOTES

Seton Hall has flexed its attacking muscles as of late, scoring 15 goals over its last six matches. This comes on the heels of scoring just six times through the season's first six games.
The Pirates have surrendered just three first half goals through the team's first 12 matches this season.
The Pirates scored four goals in back-to-back matches against Bucknell and UConn, doing so for the first time since 2007
- 9/30/07 – Defeated Rutgers, 4-1
- 10/6/07 – Defeated Marquette, 5-1
The Pirates are 14-0-1 over their last 15 matches in which they have scored the first goal.
Seton Hall has scored five goals inside the first 10 minutes of a match this season.
The Pirates are 8-1-5 at Owen T. Carroll Field since the start of the 2022 season.
In the Sept. 19 win over Bucknell, a pair of Pirate reserves (Berglund, Smith) found the back of the net. This marked the first time since Sept. 10, 2021 that two Seton Hall substitutes scored in a match.
Seton Hall did not allow a goal through the first 332:38 of the season before conceding against No. 10 Indiana. This set a new program record for longest shutout streak to begin a season, previously set back in 2005.
Seton Hall opened the season with a 3-0 record for the first time since 2008.
James Boote scored goals in back-to-back matches to open the season after entering the season with just one goal scored in his first 65 career games.
With the season opening win over Rider on Aug. 24, the Pirates improved to 5-0-3 in season openers dating back to 2016.
Mats Roorda was named BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week on Aug. 28 for his efforts in posting a pair of shutouts against Rider and Air Force. Boote was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after his five-point week.
The Pirates face another challenging slate of matches in 2023, highlighted by five teams who made the NCAA Tournament last season. Included in those are matchups with Indiana and Creighton, both of whom made it all the way to the College Cup last fall.
The Hall welcome 12 new faces to the program, including several potential impact transfers: Rikard Cederberg (Bellarmine), Mats Roorda (Binghamton), Jared Smith (Quinnipiac) and Tim Strobeck (Clemson).
Three Pirates are capitalizing on their extra year of eligibility to return to Seton Hall as graduate students in 2023. James Boote, Andrea Borg and Hugo Keller will all suit back up for The Hall this season. All told, 19 players from last year's squad are back for the Pirates in 2023.
Starting this season, the Pirates will be vying to finish inside the top-eight in the BIG EAST standings. With the addition of Akron to the league as a men's soccer affiliate member, the now-12 team conference has been split into an East Division and Midwest Division. Each division winner will qualify for the BIG EAST Championship, with the next six best teams based on conference points solidifying the remaining berths.
Seton Hall was picked to finish fourth in the East Division. The Pirates received 36 points in the poll and sit behind third-place St. John's (40 points), second-place Providence (56 points) and first-place Georgetown (66 points).
The Pirates finished last season in second place in the BIG EAST standings after amassing 17 points during conference play. The second place finish in the program's best since winning the regular season title back in 1991, while the 17 points in league action were the program's most since 2006.