Pirates End Road Trip with Win Over Undefeated Iona, 1-0

Date: September 11, 2022

By: Andrew Raccuglia

Chiara Pucci dribbling the ball.

Seton Hall Athletics

The Seton Hall Pirates (3-2-2) pulled off a gritty victory against the Iona Gaels (5-1-2) in New Rochelle, NY on Sunday afternoon, delivering the Gaels their first loss of the season.

The match was won through a big defensive effort by the Hall, having been outshot 14-4 by the Gaels, but senior Abbie Roberts’ lone goal with 17:13 left provided a much-needed win for the Pirates.

Roberts’ second goal of the year, and her second game-winning goal of the season, was the first Seton Hall score since their 2-0 victory against Sant Joseph’s on August 28^th. She came up big for the team in her second-half-return after limping off the field from an injury 21 minutes into the first half.

Senior goalkeeper Grace Gordon also had an excellent showing, as she tallied a total of five saves throughout the match to counter the Gaels’ six shots on goal.

The first half was off to a slow start in the rain, with the Pirates providing the more aggressive offense. At the 5:33 mark, Roberts made the first shot on goal of the match, but it was saved by Iona goalkeeper Emma Havrilla.

Both teams would rack up two fouls each before Gordon got her first save off a shot by Samantha Hogan at the 17:44 mark.

A scary moment for the Hall came at the 21:10 mark, when Roberts went down on the cold, wet pitch, and limped off the field from an apparent leg injury. The Gaels then made three separate shots within the 26^th and 27^th minutes, as junior Kayla Thomas and graduate Mackenzie Meixner missed right, and junior Victoria Mule missed left.

Seton Hall sophomore Sophie Liston then made a blocked shot in the 32^nd minute, which was the Pirates’ only other shot of the half.

Besides a yellow card called on Gaels senior Sofia Giamonoco, Iona was in offensive control for the rest of the half, getting two more shot attempts in before halftime, for a total of six shots in the first period.

With a score of 0-0 at the start of the second half, the Pirate defense began to really make a difference.

After the Hall racked up seven fouls compared to the Gaels’ two, Gordon got a big save as the ball came up low center from junior Madison Lennon, followed by freshman Gabby Dellocono’s second shot which nearly caused an own goal for Iona off of Gordon’s foot, but was quickly caught in her hands.

The Gaels tried to get another shot attempt in the 70^th minute, yet after Hogan went down in an apparent collision with Pirates sophomore Piara Pucci, the referee made a “no penalty” gesture, claiming there was not enough contact to warrant a penalty kick. The teams were confused in the moment, and Iona did not get the chance they wanted.

Following a short back-and-forth, the Pirates made a pivotal corner kick at the 72:35 mark, allowing junior Brina Micheels to get a shot that bounced right off of the Gaels’ crossbar and toward Roberts, who made another kick that went over Havrilla and bounced off the crossbar into the net for the only goal of the match.

#HALLin ⚪️ pic.twitter.com/zpNctv5iyH
— Seton Hall Women's Soccer (@SHUWSOC) September 11, 2022

Despite the advantage, the Hall did not get any more shot attempts for the remaining 17:25, which made the last minutes of the match all about their defense.

Iona would attempt five more kicks, two of which were shots on goal saved by Gordon within the 79^th minute. Following a series of scuffles for the ball in the last three minutes, the Pirates were awarded possession with 40 seconds left and ran out the clock to win the match.

It was a valuable win for Seton Hall, as they managed to survive Dellocono’s three shots (two on goal), and three other Gaels making two shots each as compared to the Hall making four in total.

The women’s soccer team will return to South Orange, NJ on Thursday, Sept. 15 at 6:00 p.m. for a matchup at Owen T. Carroll Field against head coach Josh Osit’s former program, the Columbia Lions. Make sure to catch it live on WSOU.net, where Will Swankie, Chris Kiely, and Michael Federico will be on the call.

Andrew Raccuglia can be found at andrew.raccuglia@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, Women's Soccer