Seton Hall
The Pirates win a decisive 1-0 thriller against Lafayette
Date: August 29, 2019By: Heaven Hill
After suffering a tough overtime loss in the 2018-19 season opener to Loyola Maryland, the Hall was able to bounce back and secure a hard-fought victory against the Lafayette Leopards by a score of 1-0 in their first home game of the season in Whippany, NJ.
In the Hall’s second game under the tutelage of new head coach Ciara Crinion, the first half was quite strange, to say the least. The referees at the Red Bulls Training Facility were the main event, as multiple players for Seton Hall and Lafayette racked up fouls, along with offsides calls spoiling early potential scoring chances.
Forward Emily Arellano, who sat out last season due to injury, and midfielder Laura Hooper got whistled within the first 10 minutes for fouls, but that was unfortunately just the beginning. Midfielder Cassandra Harrigan, who was fourth on the team in shots last year, received a yellow card around the 16th minute for a foul, before getting substituted at the 32nd minute after her second foul of the game.
At the end of the first half, the teams combined for an astonishing 10 fouls, with nine infractions called on the Pirates. 42 minutes passed before the first shot on goal by either team, a great attempt from Hooper that was saved by Lafayette’s goalie Maggie Pohl.
The second half featured a completely different story for the Hall, as they came out with aggression, a sense of urgency, and a measure of control. This could perhaps be attributed to the new coaching style of Crinion, and a storyline to watch for the rest of the season.
Lafayette substituted Pohl, who made the first half save, for freshman goalie Natalie Neumann. Safe to say, this game was quite the wakeup call for her as she faced a relentless barrage of shots on goal early in the second period, from Harrigan, Hooper, midfielder Izzy Engel, and forward Marissa Aniolowski. While Neumann made a ton of saves early on, it was a complete shift of tone from the first half and it appeared evident that Seton Hall would score soon.
On the other side of the ball, Lafayette only attempted two shots on goal, both saved by goalie Harpa Johannsdottir. The Pirates prioritized defense for this matchup, and they made life difficult for the Leopards. 80 minutes passed before the Hall struck paydirt, with a brilliant goal off the foot of forward Alyssa Reszkowski swishing through the net. At that point, Lafayette felt the pressure and tried to turn up the tenacity. However, this only resulted in three fouls in the last 10 minutes.
When it was all said and done, Seton Hall got their first win of the year with hopefully many more in sight for the team and newly instituted coaching staff. The Pirates return to the pitch on Monday to face the Monmouth Hawks in West Long Branch, NJ, where they have a chance to match their win total from last season. Let’s see if they can get it done.
Heaven Hill can be reached at heaven.hill@student.shu.edu.
