Postseason Hopes Hinge on Finale at St. John's
11/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
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For the Seton Hall University men's soccer team the approach to Thursday night's regular season finale is simple, the Pirates must win in order to keep their hopes alive for securing the sixth and final berth into the BIG EAST Tournament.
The top five seeds have all been locked up heading into the final week of play and three teams are still alive for six seed: Seton Hall, Marquette and Butler.The Bulldogs currently occupy the sixth spot with eight points, followed by Marquette, and then Seton Hall. With a win at St. John's, Seton Hall would vault into sixth place, but then the Pirates need some help to hang onto the spot.
SHU holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Marquette, thanks to the Pirates' win over Georgetown, so The Hall would need the Golden Eagles to lose or tie in their home finale against DePaul on Friday. Should SHU tie with Butler, the Bulldogs own the tiebreaker, so Butler must lose at Xavier in its final match of the season.
The Pirates kept their postseason hopes alive by tying Marquette last Saturday night in South Orange. In a high-scoring affair, senior Mateusz Brela scored in the 74th minute to knot the score at 3-3, and neither squad found any more offense the rest of the way.It is the second-straight season the Pirates are still alive for a postseason berth heading into the final match against St. John's. Last year SHU lost to the Red Storm 5-0, after losing a pair of defenders to red cards early in the second half, but as the scores came in from around the league, the Pirates learned even if they had won that match they would have been kept out of the postseason.
St. John's is one of two teams that has been eliminated from postseason contention, DePaul being the other. The Red Storm are 1-6-1 in league play, and 4-9-4 overall, but all four of those victories have come at Belson Stadium where they are 4-3-2 this year.Seton Hall will be looking for its first victory over St. John's since 2006, and its first BIG EAST road win since 2009. The Red Storm is 3-0-2 against Seton Hall over the last five matchups.
QUICK HITS
- With only one regular season match to play the BIG EAST playoff picture remains slightly muddled. The top five seeds have already been claimed and three squads remain alive for the sixth and final spot, including Seton Hall.
- The Pirates must win at St. John's on Monday to leap past Marquette and Butler. The Golden Eagles and Bulldogs both wrap up their seasons a day later. Seton Hall would need a Butler loss at Xavier and for Marquette to either lose or tie in its home contest with DePaul.
- Seton Hall is coming off an exciting 3-3 tie against No. 24 Marquette last Saturday night. The Pirates twice held a lead over the Golden Eagles, including a 2-1 margin at the half, but it took a Mateusz Brela score in the 74th minute to tie the match.
- Senior Bolu Akinyode registered three points in the first half against Marquette, assisting a goal in the second minute and scoring his career-best third goal of the season in the 25th minute. He was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the first time in his career.
- The Pirates found offense against the Golden Eagles despite being shutout in back-to-back games leading up to the match. Seton Hall was the first team this season to score three goals on Marquette.
- St. John's is 1-6-1 in the BIG EAST with its conference win coming at home against Butler in double overtime, 3-2.
- The Red Storm are 0-5-1 since that win, scoring three goals over that span.
- All four of St. John's wins have come at home, where it sports a winning overall record of 4-3-2.
St. John's leads the all-time series with Seton Hall 21-11-3 and the Red Storm picked up a 5-0 win over The Hall in last year's season finale in South Orange. St. John's is 3-0-2 against the Pirates over the last five meetings, with Seton Hall's last victory in the series coming back in 2006. Despite regional proximity, the two programs failed to meet for three-striaght seasons from 2010-12 before last year's matchup.
LAST TIME WE MET...
St. John's led 1-0 at the half in last year's season finale but scored four second half goals to earn a 5-0 win. The Pirates ended that game playing two men down after having a pair of defenders sent off after receiving red cards. Three of St. John's scores came after the two red cards were issued, which came just 1:08 apart in the second period. Five different players scored for St. John's while Samuel Geiler had three shot attempts, two on goal for The Hall.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Three teams are still alive for the sixth and final BIG EAST Conference playoff berth including Seton Hall, Marquette and Butler. Butler currently sits in sixth with eight points, followed by Marquette (7) and then Seton Hall (6). Seton Hall must win in order to have a chance at finishing sixth. From there the Pirates need Butler to lose at Xavier and for Marquette to either lose or tie in its finale against DePaul.
AKINYODE NAMED TO HONOR ROLL
Senior midfielder Bolu Akinyode landed on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the first time in his career after recording three first-half points in the tie with No. 24 Marquette on Nov. 1. Akinyode had the assist on Victor Manosalvas' goal in the second minute, then gave the Pirates a lead for a second time when he scored in the 25th minute. Akinyode has scored a career-best three goals to go along with two assists for eight points this season, which ranks third on the team.
