The women's soccer team will go head to head with Georgetown in their Big East season opener on Friday.
Seton Hall enters with a 4-1-2 record and has not lost in any of its past three games, defeating Colgate and Princeton, and drawing a tie with Iona.
Georgetown starts conference play on a three-game win streak and a 6-2-0 record.
The Pirates have more than their winning record to worry about against the Hoyas.
According to head coach Kazbek Tambi Georgetown has, "a bunch of individually creative and dangerous players."
One of those threats is N.J. native and senior Ingrid Wells, who was last year's Big East Midfielder of the Year and was selected a First Team All-American by the N.S.C.A.A. during the NCAA Women's College Cup.
This season, Wells leads the team in points, goals and assists and is second in shots.
"Georgetown is one of the strongest teams in the conference traditionally and one of the strongest teams in the country," said Tambi.
In last year's match, Georgetown, then ranked No. 19, netted two goals late in the second half, to beat the Pirates 2-0 in Washington, D.C.
This year, however, Seton Hall is having the best start to a season since 2005.
On Sept. 12, senior Elizabeth Bond was named Big East Goalkeeper of the Week for her 15 saves in two games.
On the offensive side of the ball, sophomore midfielder Katlyn Ritter leads the team in points with six and goals with three.
Seniors Stephanie Soma and Taylor Wilson are also chipping in with 23 and 16 shots respectively.
In addition, the Pirates play differently than what Georgetown and other schools are familiar with.
"[Seton Hall] plays a certain style and formation that you don't see as often on the women's side," Georgetown head coach David Nolan said. "It's a difficult system to play against."
According to Nolan, a Seton Hall alum who played for the men's soccer team under head coach Manfred Schellscheidt, the Pirates usually employ a 3-5-2 formation, which means the Pirates have certain players with engines built for a constantly running offense.
Normally, the Hall opens Big East play against Rutgers but with a different matchup to start the Big East schedule, both coaches agree that this sort of game can and most likely will be decided by one play.
"The first conference game is always the one with the most energy," Nolan said. "It's the most cherished because everyone is determined to get off to a good start."
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16 at Owen T. Carroll Field.
Krissy Wrobel can be reached at wrobelkr@shu.edu
