Seton Hall
Pirates shut out Central Connecticut State, 6-0
Date: August 31, 2019By: Joe Cammarota
The Seton Hall men’s soccer team opened up their 2019 campaign at the Red Bulls Training Facility against the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils with a bang with a 6-0 victory.
This was the first time the Hall was able to slot in six goals since 2007. The Pirates were led by graduate transfer Stephen Elias, as he scored a hat trick to start his Pirate career. Seton Hall had a chip on their shoulder as second year coach Andreas Lindberg and his Pirates were picked to finish eighth in the conference.
The temporary home did not hinder Seton Hall at all as they were able to attack early and often. The applied pressure to the Central Connecticut defense resulted in multiple fouls and a lot of shots. Seton Hall had 15 shots and four on goal in the first half alone. Of those four shots on goal, three were slotted past keeper Jason Dubrovich.
Eden O’Leary, Elias, and Andrea Borg provided the early offense for the Pirates. After applying a lot of pressure, the first 13 minutes, the Pirates broke through in the 14th minute as Elias scored the inaugural goal on the 2019 campaign. Four minutes later, O’Leary placed one in off a cross to extend the lead to 2-0.
The first half offensive scoring onslaught concluded in the 38th minute as Borg was able to slot one in to extend the lead to 3-nil. The first half also showed how the Seton Hall defense would be, as they allowed only four shots the entire half. Part of that was due to the offense though, as the best defense is a great offense. Seton Hall as able to have a possess the ball a lot, which limited Central Connecticut opportunities.
Halftime adjustments did not help Central Connecticut State though, as the Pirates continued to ramp up their pressure, and smother the Blue Devils’ offense. The second half saw Central Connecticut fail to record a shot on goal and while letting Seton Hall put seven more on Dubrovich. This bought Seton Hall’s total shots on goal to be 11 for the game.
Five minutes into the second half the Pirates added to their lead and sealed the game, with Elias putting in his second of the night. Elias was able to cap off his magical night by scoring his third, a hat trick, just eight minutes later.
That was not the end of the night for Seton Hall though, Sophomore Cyrus Darvish came on as a substitution and scored his first of the season in the 80th minute to cap of the night for the Pirates.
Another notable stat of the game, other than the hat trick, was that sophomore JP Marin recorded two assists. If the Pirates have their young players produce, such as Marin, CJ Tibling and Darvish they could prove the doubters wrong.
Especially as Seton Hall continues to see performances like this from Elias. Seton Hall continues their season next week when they travel to Fort Myers, Florida, to take on Florida Gulf Coast on September 6, at 7 p.m.
Joe Cammarota can be reached at joseph.cammarota@student.shu.edu.
