The women's soccer team fell to No. 15 Georgetown on Saturday in a 2-0 loss that served as the final game of the 2013 season.
Although they finished with a strong home record of 5-2-2, the Pirates failed to earn a spot in the Big East tournament.
In addition to a win over the Hoyas, Seton Hall would've needed a loss by St. John's, a loss or draw by Villanova, or a loss by Butler in order to slip in as the sixth and final seed.
Goals by Georgetown's Audra Ayotte and Daphne Corboz, the Big East leader in goals per game, proved to be too much for the 5-11-2 Pirates.
"While this was a disappointing loss, the rest of the match was pretty even after two early goals," coach Kazbek Tambi said.
"This was also a huge improvement over our game against them last year."
Saturday marked the final time that seniors Brittney Albrecht, Ashley Clarke, Meghan Hayes, Kattie Ritter, Amie Ruhe, Marie Klemme and Jennifer Pettigrew will take the pitch wearing the Pi- rate blue and white.
"This was a great senior class," Tambi said.
"The seniors were leaders on and off the field, and will definitely be missed. But next season will give underclassmen the opportunity to earn starting spots, and we also have a strong freshmen class coming in."
Ritter finished the season as the team's top goal scorer, while Pettigrew led SHU's defensive front with 73 saves on the season. Clarke finished with three goals and team-high seven assists.
Clarke wraps up her career with 10 goals and 19 assists and Ritter finished with 23 goals and four assists.
Pettigrew, the senior goalkeeper, grew her save total to 253 during the 2013 season.
With the departure of six seniors, sophomore Alexis Urbanski and standout freshmen Frankie Maier and Sarah Cortes will look to take a bigger role in the 2014 season.
Cortes finished third on the team in points, while Urbanksi and Maier wound up contributing four points apiece on the season.
"There's mixed feelings," coach Tambi said on the outcome of the season. "We came up just a point short, and that hurts. But the overall improvement of our team was tremendous, and we were able to compete against a lot of top teams."
The improved effort allowed for five of Tambi's players to receive Big East Weekly Honor Roll se- lections throughout the course of the season.
The conference tournament began Tuesday with Marquette and Georgetown claiming the top two seeds.
Seton Hall will look to improve and make it to the Big East tournament next season.
Tom Duffy can be reached at thomas.duffy@student.shu.edu.
