Pair of Pirates hit 1,000 points
Men's basketball player Sandro Mamukelashvili and Desiree Elmore of the women’s team both hit a career milestone this past week, scoring their 1,000th points for Seton Hall. Both seniors did so in wins for Seton Hall with Mamukelashvili scoring his 1,000th point on Feb. 17 in a 60-52 win against DePaul and Elmore's coming in a 67-55 win over Providence.
Mamukelashvili finished the game against DePaul with a double-double, leading the team in points with 25 to go along with 11 rebounds and four assists. He became the 45th player to reach 1,000 points in Seton Hall men's basketball history.
Elmore also finished her game with a double-double, leading the team in both points and rebounds with 23 and 12, respectively. With 55 of Elmore's career points coming from her time at Syracuse, she is yet to score 1,000 points for Seton Hall but is just 49 points away from doing so. She would be just the 23rd player in program history to achieve that feat.
Elmore was named to the Big East Women's Basketball Weekly Honor Roll on Monday for the second consecutive week and third time this season.
Big East Soccer returns to Owen T. Carroll Field
Andreas Lindberg and the Seton Hall men's soccer team started their spring season with a double-overtime, 3-3 draw at NJIT and 1-0 home win over La Salle. Wednesday's home game against Fairleigh Dickinson University is the last of their non-conference games before kicking off their Big East season at home to St. John's on Saturday afternoon.
The last time Seton Hall hosted a Big East home game was on Nov. 6, 2019, when it lost to Villanova 1-0. That season, the Pirates drew 1-1 after double-overtime to a St. John's team ranked fourth in the country. Seton Hall is winless in its last five meetings against the Red Storm with its last win coming in 2014 and last home win having been back in 2006.
Unlike most seasons, this will be the first of two games against St. John's. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Big East has divided the conference into two divisions for both men's and women's soccer. Seton Hall was placed in the East Division and will play the University of Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence and Villanova along with St. John's twice in Big East play.
Women's soccer, volleyball and softball are back in action
After the cancellations of each program's initially scheduled season openers, women's soccer, volleyball and softball are set to return to play this week with non-conference games.
Women's soccer host Fairleigh Dickinson University on Monday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field. The game will also serve as FDU's season-opener as they prepare for their own season in the Northeast Conference. Historically, Seton Hall leads this series with a 3-1-0 record and comes into the game having won its last meeting back in 2010 3-0.
Volleyball is also scheduled to start its season against FDU on Tuesday, Feb. 23. FDU comes into this game off the back of a win over Georgian Court in their first meet of the season. The Pirates and the Knights have one previous meeting against each other back in 2008 when Seton Hall swept the series winning three straight sets.
Softball was initially scheduled to play Saint Joseph's on Sunday, Feb. 21, but weather conditions forced a postponement of the game to Wednesday, Feb. 24. Head coach Paige Smith and her team have not seen the field since March of last year but have a strong test in the Hawks to see where they're at when they resume play. Saint Joseph's leads the series with two wins in their two previous two meetings, the last of which came in 2016 when they beat Seton Hall 14-7.
Related stories: Volleyball freshmen prepare to take on upcoming season, Rachwal focused on leaving a legacy in senior year
Preseason Big East Baseball awards announced
Graduate students Tyler Shedler-McAvoy and Matt Toke were two of three players unanimously selected for this year’s preseason team. Shedler-McAvoy was also named Big East Preseason Co-Player of the Year along with the University of Connecticut’s Kyler Fedko.
Seton Hall were ranked third in the Preseason Coaches' Poll behind Creighton and UConn respectively. The Pirates received one first-place vote.
The baseball team started their 2021 spring season with a double header agaisnt Hofstra, winning the first game 3-2 through a walk-off from Jerry Huntzinger and losing the second game 3-2 after a two-run go-ahead home run by Hofstra in the seventh inning.
They're scheduled to start a three-game series at Florida Atlantic this Friday, Feb. 26 before returning home to play Albany on Mar. 6.
Myles Powell Check
Seton Hall alum Myles Powell made his debut for the Westchester Knicks on Wednesday, Feb. 10 in a 125-120 win over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. He played 22 minutes off the bench, scoring 16 points and shooting 3-for-6 from three-point range in addition to four rebounds and an assist.
In his first seven games, Powell averaged 20.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 30.7 minutes per game. He contributed 24 points, six rebounds and eight assists in his first start for the Knicks against the Santa Cruz Warriors on Feb. 13. Powell scored a career-high 31 points against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the next game.
Powell and the Knicks are currently 3-4 in the G-League bubble down in the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Flo. Their next game is Monday morning against the Canton Charge.
Justin Sousa can be reached at justin.sousa@student.shu.edu. Follow him on Twitter @JustinSousa99.
