VILLANOVA, Pa. – Wednesday is "Decision Day" across the BIG EAST as the final day of the regular season plays out across five home sites. One of those is the Higgins Soccer Complex, where Villanova can secure a postseason berth in the BIG EAST Tournament as it hosts Seton Hall (6-7-3 overall, 2-6-1 BIG EAST).
For added flavor, the Wildcats will honor four seniors for their contributions to Villanova Soccer as they get set for their final regular season home appearance:
Kent Dickey,
Dylan Middlebrook,
Seidu Shamsudeen and
Carson Williams.
Kickoff is set for 3:05 p.m. on West Campus. The match will be live streamed by the BIG EAST Digital Network presented by FloSports.
The Wildcats (9-6-1 overall, 4-4-1 BIG EAST) enter Wednesday's action in a four-way tie with Butler, Creighton and Marquette for fourth place in the conference. Georgetown (21 points), Providence (18 points) and St. John's hold down the top three spots. Each has clinched a berth in the six-team playoff that begins Saturday.
A victory Wednesday clinches a berth for the Wildcats. Butler, which visits St. John's at 7 p.m., and Creighton, which hosts Providence at 8 p.m. eastern time, can also clinch a spot with wins Wednesday. The fourth-place finisher will host Saturday's first round contest against the fifth-place finisher. The top two finishers in the league standings receive first round byes.
Marquette, meanwhile, is the only BIG EAST team that has completed its schedule. It will need help from others to land a spot.
There are scenarios where the Wildcats can earn a postseason berth with either a draw or a loss. But those involve a rather complicated array of possibilities that Villanova would prefer to avoid.
Prior to the game, Villanova will celebrate its annual "Senior Day" by honoring four of its veterans.
Williams (Plano, Tex.) is the program's all-time leader in shutouts (19) and he enters this contest coming off a brilliant effort in a 0-0 draw at Providence that gave Villanova a vital point in its pursuit of the postseason. He has a 1.24 goals against average this season.
Dickey (Richmond, Va.) has often served as Williams' understudy over his career. In 2021 he has stepped forward in a big way, posting shutout wins while in goal against Butler (1-0 on Sept. 25) and at Northwestern (2-0 on Oct. 24) while delivering an 0.45 goals against average.
Middlebrook (Brooklyn, N.Y.) is a reliable force in the defensive midfield who has appeared in 14 games this season, with four starts.
Shamsudeen (Bolgatanga, Ghana) has overcome injuries to become an important weapon on the attack for the Wildcats. He has notched a pair of goals in this fall 2021 campaign.
