Pirates to Celebrate Seniors, Play for BIG EAST Berth on Saturday Against Providence

South Orange, N.J. – Seton Hall men's soccer will play for a spot in the BIG EAST Tournament on Saturday afternoon as it hosts Providence at 2 p.m. at Owen T. Carroll Field. The match will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network with Chris Markowitz on the call, and can also be heard on 89.5 FM WSOU with Joey Nardone and Victor Gonzalez calling the action.

WIN AND IN
The Pirates would qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament with a victory on Saturday over Providence. Should Seton Hall lose or draw, it would need favorable results from the other matches across the league, all of which have simultaneous 2 p.m. ET kickoffs. Seton Hall's full set of possible scenarios towards qualification can be found here.

SENIOR DAY/SOFT PRETZEL GIVEAWAY
Get in your seats early on Saturday as we honor our seven departing seniors before kickoff. James Boote (Southampton, England), Andrea Borg (Sliema, Malta), Pierce Enxuto (Simsbury, Conn.), Hugo Keller (Sweden), Tomas Nunez (Longchamps, Argentina), Mats Roorda (Groningen, Netherlands) and Mark Walier (Holmdel, N.J.) will be recognized for their accomplishments in a Pirate kit before the match. On your way in, stop by the marketing table to pick up a free soft pretzel while supplies last!

LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates were taken down, 3-1, on the road at DePaul last Saturday afternoon. The Blue Demons got off to a quick start by scoring twice inside the first 25 minutes to hold a two-goal lead at halftime. Boote cut the deficit in half with a beautiful goal that he curled in off a free kick parallel to the goal. However, that was as close as the Pirates would get as DePaul would add a third goal just four minutes later to come away with the win.

SCOUTING PROVIDENCE

Providence enters play on Saturday with 14 points to its name and still hold a shot at winning the East Division and claiming the No. 1 seed in next week's BIG EAST Tournament.
The Friars have hit their stride down the stretch of the season, entering play on a three-match win streak and unbeaten over their last six matches. Providence is outscoring its opponents 12-1 over its last six fixtures.
Brendan McSorley leads the team with nine goals on the season, while Pearse O'Brien is the main facilitator on the attack with six assists on the campaign.
Saturday will be the 39^th all-time meeting between Seton Hall and Providence, with the Friars holding a 18-13-7 edge in the series. Last season, the sides played to a 2-2 tie in Rhode Island.

NEWS & NOTES

The Pirates are looking to qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament in consecutive seasons for the first time since reaching the tournament in 14 straight years from 1994-2007.
Saturday will be James Boote's and Andrea Borg's 81st career match in a Seton Hall uniform, breaking a tie with Pat O'Kelly for second-most games played in program history.
Seton Hall has flexed its attacking muscles as of late, scoring 18 goals over its last nine matches. This comes on the heels of scoring just six times through the season's first six games.
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 9-1-5 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.