Pirates Head to Omaha on Saturday

South Orange, N.J. – Following their final home regular season match of the season, the Pirates will end the regular season with three road matches starting with a trip to Omaha, Neb., on Saturday. The Pirates will take on the Creighton Bluejays at Morrison Stadium with kickoff set for 8 p.m. EST. The match will be streamed on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports.

LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates dropped a close, 1-0 match to the UConn Huskies at home on Wednesday night. The Huskies were able to net a late goal in regulation to top The Hall.

In their final regular season home match of the year, the Pirates and Huskies engaged in a defensive battle in the first period with both teams able to fire off two shots and earn to corners to their credits. The Pirates held the advantage of placing a shot on net while the Huskies did not. Much of the second half followed suit with teams even at four shots apiece but the Pirates were able to take three corners to UConn's one.

Late in regulation the Pirates were able to draw two good chances, but the Husky keeper was up to the task making two big stops. With time ticking down on the game clock, UConn was able to draw a foul just outside the Pirate penalty area. Mateo Leveque took the kick for the Huskies and found the head of Ben Awashie who put the cross into the back of the net for the game winner. For Awashie, it was his third goal of the season.

SCOUTING – Creighton (5-6-2, 2-4-1)

The Bluejays are currently riding a three-game unbeaten streak after defeating Xavier at Morrison Stadium on Wednesday, 2-0. Alejandro Maillet and Callum Watson tallied just under three minutes apart in the second half for the victory.
BIG EAST Preseason Co-Offensive Player of the year, Diego Gutierrez, leads the Bluejays offensively with 18 points on seven goals and four assists.
In net, Paul Kruse has played the bulk of minutes for Creighton with 55 saves and a 1.45 GAA in 13 games this season.
The Bluejays lead the all-time series 4-3-0 with the Pirates taking the previous matchup between the two squads during the 2019 season. On Oct. 4, 2019, In the 32nd minute, then-freshman James Boote (Southampton, England) collected a pass in the Pirates' attacking end and floated a perfect ball into the box that found Carlton McKenzie. McKenzie flipped the pass with his right foot to himself and he headed the ball for the eventual game-winner. Andreas Nota (Rome, Italy) picked up the shutout victory with one save.

NEWS & NOTES

Before conceding late against UConn, the Andreas Nota had gone 307 consecutive minutes without surrendering a goal. Last week, Nota completed an unbeaten week on the road with two shutouts. On Wednesday against DePaul, Nota picked up his fifth win of the campaign in a clean sheet against the Blue Demons. The victory, Nota's 26th, moves him one back of third place on the program's career leaderboard behind Alex McDonald's 27 career wins. On Saturday, the Pirates drew St. John's (RV) at Belson Stadium, 0-0. Nota made two saves enroute to his second consecutive shutout. The graduate student earned his 13th career clean sheet, moving himself into a tie for second most shutouts in program history with Steve Armenti. Boris Pardo leads The Hall all-time with 16 career shutouts. For his efforts Nota earned a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.
In the 1-0 road victory over the Blue Demons last Wednesday, the Pirates held DePaul without a single shot on net. The win marks Seton Hall's first road victory at DePaul in program history as well as the first time the Pirates have blanked the Blue Demons in 11 matchups between the two squads. The clean sheet in a BIG EAST road victory is the first for the Pirates since they blanked St. John's, 1-0, on Nov. 6, 2014.
CJ Tibbling tallied twice for Seton Hall against No. 1 Georgetown. For Tibbling, it was his 16th and 17^th tallies as a Pirate. The multi-goal game was Tibbling's third of his career and first since the 2018 season.
Third the BIG EAST with a team-leading 15 points, Johannes Pex converted his second and third penalty kicks of the season at Fordham earning him a spot on the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll. The tallies for Pex were just 62 seconds apart and served as his second career multi-goal game with his first coming in last season's season-opener at NJIT. Pex also tallied twice and picked up an assist across wins against Delaware and NC State earning BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week honor (9/6). The junior was also named to College Soccer News' National Team of the Week. Pex was also selected to the conference's weekly honor roll following his three assists against NJIT (9/10)
Thirteen different Pirates have now found the back of the net this season with 30 assists on 25 total goals. The Hall had tallies from 12 different players last season.
The Pirates are 5-2-0 in games where they were the first team to score. Dating back to the start of last season The Hall is a combined 13-3-1 when striking first.
As of Oct. 22, The Hall currently ranks third in the BIG EAST in total goals (25). The Pirates also sit third in the conference and 18th in the nation in total assists (30).
Seven different Pirates have at least three assists this season: Johannes Pex (5), Raz Amir (4), JP Marin (4), Andreas Borg (3), Jordan Jowers (3) and Denis Kelmendi (3). Overall, 11 Pirates have at least one helper on the campaign.
The Seton Hall men's soccer team was picked second in the BIG EAST Conference Preseason Coaches Poll as the reigning BIG EAST champions were awarded 93 points including three first place votes. Georgetown took the top spot in the poll edging the Pirates by just five points while Creighton, the third team picked, was awarded 74 points.
Senior CJ Tibbling was selected as the conference's Preseason Co-Offensive Player of the Year and was a unanimous selection for the Preseason All-BIG EAST squad. Tibbling is coming off a 2020 Second Team All-America selection as well as First Team All-BIG EAST honors. On the offensive end, Tibbling led the Pirates with seven goals and 17 points on the season to go along with three assists. With his seven tallies, Tibbling ranked second in the BIG EAST and 20th in the country in goals scored.
Senior Luca Dahn was honored as the BIG EAST's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and earned a spot Preseason All-BIG EAST team. Dahn was awarded a 2020 Second Team All-America selection as well as First Team All-BIG EAST honors. In his first year in a Seton Hall uniform, Dahn logged over 1500 minutes for The Hall and was on the pitch for all but nine minutes throughout the campaign. Despite lining up as a center back, Dahn also scored twice for The Hall while registering 12 shots on net, second best on the team.