NEW YORK – Heading into Thursday, the final day of the men’s soccer regular season, four teams had punched their tickets to the BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Championship, presented by Jeep. The only guarantee was that Providence had secured a bye in the first round.
Providence won their eighth consecutive match, 1-0 at St. John’s, to win the first BIG EAST men’s soccer regular season title in program history. The Friars (12-5-0, 7-2-0), nationally ranked No. 25 in the NSCAA poll, also locked up the No. 1 seed in the championship and will host the winner of the No. 4/5 match up in the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. ET on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN).
Butler, nationally ranked No. 18, defeated Xavier 2-1 in Cincinnati to lock up the No. 2 seed in the championship and the other first round bye. Butler (11-5-1, 6-3-0) was at the top of the league standings for most of the year. The Bulldogs will host the winner of the No. 3/6 match also at 7 p.m. on BEDN.
Villanova secured the No. 3 seed in the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Seton Hall. The Wildcats (10-6-2, 5-3-1) will host sixth-seeded DePaul (9-6-2, 4-5-0) in the first round at the Villanova Soccer Complex on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. The Blue Demons lost on the road at Marquette, 1-0, and narrowly made the playoffs.
Creighton, last year’s BIG EAST runner up, ended up with the fourth seed in the championship. The Bluejays finished tied with Villanova for third in the league standings with a 5-3-1 record, but is the lesser seed in the tiebreaker due to their 1-0 loss to the Wildcats on Oct. 22. Creighton, ranked 24th nationally, finished the regular season with a 9-5-3 record after a 3-0 victory over Georgetown at home. The Bluejays will host sixth-seeded Xavier (8-7-3, 4-4-1) on Sunday at 4 p.m. Xavier defeated Creighton, 2-1 in Cincinnati on Oct. 26.
Both the First Round and the Semifinals will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network.
The BIG EAST Championship final will be played at the home site of the highest remaining seed on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 12 p.m. ET on FS2.
BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP, PRESENTED BY JEEP
FIRST ROUND – Nov. 6 – higher seed campus sites
No. 6 DePaul at No. 3 Villanova at 1 p.m..^
No. 5 Xavier at No. 4 Creighton at 4 p.m. ^
SEMIFINALS – Nov. 10 – higher seed campus sites
No. 1 Providence vs. 4/5 winner, 7 p.m.^
No. 2 Butler vs. 3/6 winner, 7 p.m.^
FINAL – Nov. 13 – highest seed remaining campus site
Semifinal Winners, 12 p.m. *
^ BEDN
*FS2
All times are Eastern