MONMOUTH MEN'S SOCCER WEEKEND PREVIEW
Friday, September 6, 2013
Monmouth (0-2-0) vs. Seton Hall (1-0-1)
Location: The Great Lawn – West Long Branch, N.J.
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m.
Live Video: www.GoMUHawks.com
Live Stats: www.GoMUHawks.com
The Monmouth University men's soccer team hosts intrastate rival Seton Hall in its home opener Friday night on The Great Lawn. The Hawks are coming off a pair of losses on the road at nationally-ranked No. 4 North Carolina and No. 17 Wake Forest, while the Pirates defeated Rhode Island, 3-0, and tied Drexel, 3-3, both at home.
BREAKING DOWN THE SETON HALL PIRATES
Samuel Geiler has already scored three goals for the Pirates, while Konrad Plewa has added two goals. Max Garcia rounds out the Pirates scorers thus far with a lone tally. Seven different Seton Hall players have been credited with an assist, while Julian Spindler has seen all 200 minutes the Pirates have played in net. Spindler has compiled a 1.35 goals-against average and a .625 saves percentage. The Pirates have taken a 6-5 advantage in the all-time series with a 1-0 win last season in South Orange. The Hawks had won the three prior matches in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
RETURN OF THE MAC
Senior midfielder Joseph Schmid (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) became the 10th Monmouth player since 2007 to be named to the prestigious MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, representative of college soccer's top individual honor. Schmid joins former teammates Ryan Clark (2012), RJ Allen (2011), Max Hamilton (2011) and Anthony Vazquez (2011), as well as Ryan Kinne (2009, 2010), Bryan Meredith (2010), Chase Barbieri (2009) and Tom Gray (2007) as recent Hermann Trophy Watch List honorees from Head Coach Robert McCourt's program.
RUBBING ELBOWS WITH THE NATION'S BEST
A fixture in the national polls over the last several years, the Hawks opened the season receiving votes in the College Soccer News Preseason Top 30 Poll. Monmouth reached a program-high of the No. 4 ranking in 2010.
NEW LEAGUE, SAME FORECAST
Playing in its first year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), the Monmouth University men's soccer team has been selected by the MAAC's coaches to win a league title in its first year with the conference. The Hawks enjoyed a seven-year reign atop the Northeast Conference (NEC) under Head Coach Robert McCourt, winning each league regular-season title from 2005-11 in addition to four postseason tournament championships to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Hawks (111 points) narrowly edged Ione (110 points) in the voting.
PLENTY BACK FOR THE HAWKS
In addition to Schmid, Monmouth returns another pair of players who both earned 2012 All-Region and 2013 Preseason All-MAAC honors in junior backs Matt Jeffery (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township) and Emmanuel Senyah Agyemang (Kumasi, Ghana/KNUST University). The pair of backs return after helping Monmouth post nine shutouts and hold the opposition to an 0.70 goals-against average, good for seventh nationally, in 2012. Both Agyemang and Jeffery scored one goal for the Hawks in 2012.
