Seton Hall
Pirates drop home game to Villanova, 5-1
Date: October 10, 2019By: John Makuch
Seton Hall entered their matchup against the 5-4-3 Villanova Wildcats with a record of 1-8-1 looking to improve that record at home. With the Pirates still not having won a game in Big East play a win would have been key heading into the remainder of the season.
The match began with back and forth pressure from both teams, but Villanova playing with a noticeably faster pace. The Wildcats started to put pressure on Seton Hall, but the pirates defended the initial attack well. The attack began with a close goal for Villanova but a close offsides was called.
Both teams put offensive pressure on each other but nothing to show for until a goal from the Wildcats with 13 minutes left in the first half. Except for that goal Seton Hall played great defense as they played most of the half on defense with Villanova being dominant in possession throughout the half. Villanova almost added their second goal of the half, but a shot hit right off the crossbar for the Wildcats.
After this miss, the offense started to get rolling for Villanova as the ball stayed on the Pirate’s said for the majority of the last ten minutes of the first half. The first half concluded with Seton Hall getting great save from Harpa Johannsdottir that kept the deficit at 1-0 with the Wildcats holding the lead. Seton hall ended the half facing a 1-0 deficit and looked to spark a comeback heading into the second half.
Villanova began the second half starting right where they left off, immediately getting back to their attack putting the ball in the Pirate zone. Villanova had a problem with offsides in the match as they had two potential goals negated in that fashion. The Pirates spent much of their time on defense early in the first half with the Wildcats playing for the counterattack. Villanova managed to capitalize off this attack and Sam Rosette scored a beautiful goal from outside the box increasing the Wildcat lead to 2-0.
Seton Hall has not had much success playing from behind this season, and with the Pirates eyeing a two- goal deficit it appeared to be more of the same. A miscue from Seton Hall allowed Villanova to capture a 3-0 lead all but putting the game out of reach for the Pirates. The Pirates did not have many places to go with the ball, as Villanova continued to keep the Hall on defense throughout the second half.
Villanova kept pouring it on as they were able to get a fourth goal with 20 minutes remaining in the game. Unfortunately, no miracles happened for the Pirates as the game ended 4-0, but the Pirates kept fighting until the very end by staying aggressive. This aggressiveness paid off as they scored a goal with under ten minutes left to cut the lead to 4-1 but Villanova got a goal right back and increased the deficit back to four.
Seton Hall now drops to a record of 1-9-1 after losing 5-1 and are still looking for their first big east win of the season. The Pirates look to bounce back against Marquette back at Owen T. Carroll Field on Sunday at 1 p.m.
John Makuch can be reached at john.makuch@student.shu.edu.
