Seton Hall men’s soccer fell to the No. 11 Bryant University Bulldogs, 1-0, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, bringing their season to an end.
This comes after Matias Molina’s clutch goalkeeping led SHU to a thrilling penalty-shootout win over the Siena University Saints on Thursday in the Pirates’ first tournament game at Owen T. Carroll since 2005.
After the game, head coach Andreas Lindberg said that he believes the team is capable of much more.
“The parity in Division I men’s soccer is insane,” Lindberg said in the postgame press conference. “We can beat anybody. We’re built for it. A national championship—that’s the run we want to make.”
Although there is truth to Lindberg’s statement, their next opponents would prove too formidable for him and his squad.
In their first-ever matchup with the Pirates, the Bulldogs entered with a record of 16-2-2. Their only two losses on the season came against the University of Vermont, who are the defending national champions and this season's No. 1 seed. Despite falling 2-0 to them in the America East Championship earlier this month, Bryant’s performance this season was strong enough to earn them the No. 11 seed and a second-round bye in the NCAA Tournament.
As such, the Pirates were very much the underdogs in this game—but you wouldn’t know it from the box score. At full time, Bryant outshot SHU 9-8, with both teams recording two shots on goal. The Pirates even managed to earn more corner kicks than the Bulldogs, leading 9-5.
But the goal that separated the two teams came in the 57th minute, when Bryant senior forward Muslim Umar scored the first goal of his career with a header that put the Bulldogs up 1-0. Although the Pirates applied strong offensive pressure late into the second half, the Bulldogs were able to hold on to their one-goal lead until full time, earning the program’s first NCAA Tournament win and advancing to the third round.
For the Pirates, the loss marked another season without a third-round appearance in the tournament, with them having done so only twice this century (2001 and 2020). They also finished the season with a record of 7-4-8.
And yet, this was still a memorable season for the program, with them achieving several things worth celebrating in retrospect.
This includes what they achieved off the pitch before the season even started. While others were active in the transfer portal, the Pirates retained most of their players from last season and seasons prior. Of the team’s 28 total players, 15 of them have spent three or more years with the program—an impressive feat in today's era of college athletics.
Other preseason achievements included the team being awarded both the College Team Academic Award and Team Academic Excellence Award from United Soccer Coaches and the BIG EAST, respectively. The Pirates also earned recognition in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll when senior defender Augustin Resch was named the Preseason BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimous selection to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team.
During the season, SHU held their own against some of the best competition in and outside of the BIG EAST. On Sept. 5, the Pirates tied with—and even nearly upset—the University of Pennsylvania Quakers, who were nationally ranked (No. 21) at the time. They would do the same nearly a month later against the No. 14 Georgetown University Hoyas in their third game of conference play, which they entered two weeks prior with a record of 2-1-3.
One of the team’s biggest achievements came on Oct. 8: hours before defeating Florida International University (FIU) 5-0, the Pirates entered that week’s United States Coaches Poll at No. 21 in the rankings. After falling out of the rankings in mid-October, SHU re-entered the poll at No. 21 and retained that position for two consecutive weeks.
But perhaps the single biggest achievement of the season was the conference honors the team earned at the end of the regular season. After leading the 31st-best defense in the nation, Resch was named the 2025 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year on Nov. 12. He was also named to the All-BIG EAST First Team, recognized for his defense, of course, but also for his offense, finishing the regular season with two goals and three assists.
His teammates, Til Kauschke and Mikkel Lejbowicz, were also named to the Second Team. In just his second year as a Pirate, Kauschke scored four goals and recorded a team-high four assists. Fellow sophomore and University of Maryland transfer Lejbowicz ended the season as the team’s leading goal scorer with seven goals.
Despite not making the BIG EAST’s postseason tournament, the Pirates managed to make their 14th NCAA Tournament in program history—also their third in eight years under Lindberg’s leadership. The win over Sienna was also the team’s first tournament win since 2020.
Although the season did not end how they wanted it to, SHU proved once again this season why they are one of the most consistent teams in the conference and nation. With nine players graduating after the season—Resch among them—the Pirates will enter next season not only with a roster of new players, but also a new determination to build on what they achieved the season before.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
