• Seton Hall leads the all-time series with Princeton University 11-10-5.

• Princeton has won the last four meetings between the two schools dating back to the 2008 season.

• The Tigers defeated Seton Hall, 7-3, last year at Owen T. Carroll field.

• When Princeton and Seton Hall get together recently they have been high-scoring affairs over; the Tigers have scored at least three goals in each of the last six contests.

• Seton Hall trails in the all-time series with Rider 7-11-2.

• Rider picked up a 1-0 win over Seton Hall in last year's season-opener, snapping a two-game winning streak for SHU in the series.

• Last season's clash was the first between the two programs since 1993 and the schools have met just three times since 1968.

Friday night's season opener against Saint Peter's University marked the beginning of a new era for Seton Hall soccer under first-year head coach Gerson Echeverry. Echeverry was hired this winter after long-time head coach Manfred Schellscheidt announced his retirement after 24 years roaming the sidelines.

• Echeverry played at Seton hall from 1991-94, winning BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in 1991.

• Echeverry was the top assistant coach at Seton Hall for five seasons (2003-07).

• Over the last three seasons Echeverry was an assistant coach for the USSF U17 men's national team.

First year head coach Gerson Echeverry notched the first win of his coaching career with a 2-0 victory over Army on Aug. 27. The win was the 452nd in Seton Hall men's soccer history.

Seton Hall's first goal of the 2012 season went to sophomore midfielder Kai Greene, who headed in a corner kick in the 25th minute against Saint Peter's University on Aug. 24.

Senior midfielder Adriano Gabriele scored the game-winning goal against Army off a penalty kick in the Pirates' 2-0 win over the Black Knights on Aug. 27. If the sight looked familiar it is because Gabriele scored the game-winner against Army last year too, also with a penalty kick. He has two game-winning scores in his career.

Seton Hall defeated Army, 2-0, on Aug. 27, behind a pair of corner kicks from senior Adriano Gabriele and junior Max Garcia. It is the first time since 2007 that the Pirates converted two penalty kicks in the same game. Eliseo Giusfredi scored twice via PK in a 6-2 win over Pennsylvania on Sept. 3, 2007.

Redshirt-senior Michael Kuzan earned his first shutout of the season and the second of his career in SHU's 2-0 win over Army on Aug. 27. He turned away four shots to post a clean sheet and record his first shutout since 2010.

Junior forward John Gurel has been very aggressive on the offensive end to start the year for Seton Hall. Through the first two games of the season he has recorded 10 shot attempts, which ranks first in the BIG EAST, and his average of five shots per game is tied for the second-highest rate in the conference.

New head coach Gerson Echeverry made two additions to his coaching staff for the 2012 season. Vincent Marcotrigiano will serve as the Pirates' full-time assistant coach will Guillermo Valencia has come on board to work with SHU's goalkeepers. Marcotrigiano played collegiately at George Mason University before enjoying a six-year professional career. Valencia has coached at the youth, club, collegiate and national level, and played professionally for 16 years.

Junior forward Max Garcia led the Pirates in scoring last season with five goals and an assist for 11 points. While last year he generated all of his scoring playing out of the midfield, this season he has moved up to Seton Hall's front-row attack.

Seton Hall features two captains for this year's team in junior forward Max Garcia and sophomore defender Mateusz Brela.

Seton Hall was picked to finish in sixth place in the Blue Division in the 2012 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Pirates went 5-11-2 overall last season and 1-8 in the BIG EAST. They picked up 27 points to finish sixth in the poll. SHU returns 20 letterwinners and six of its top seven scorers from a year ago.

Former Seton Hall men's soccer standout Sacha Kljestan was inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame in a ceremony held Monday, June 11, at the Fairmount Country Club in Chatham, N.J. Kljestan led the Pirates to three-straight NCAA Tournament berths from 2003-05. He was a two-time All-American and still holds the program's single-season assists record at 15.

Head coach Gerson Echeverry and the men's soccer program brought in six freshman this offseason to make up the Class of 2016. Joining the Pirates on the field this fall will be forward Danny Bartok (Union, N.J.), midfielder Lucas Della Ventura (Brookline, Mass.), midfielder Eric Lagg (Lafayette, N.J.), defender Pasquale Suriano (Lebanon, N.J.), defender Julian Kennedy (Nindorf, Germany) and defender Chris Hall (Bridgewater, N.J.).