Over the weekend, the Pirates opened the regular season in North Carolina, going up against two of the top five ranked teams in the nation.
The Hall fell to No. 4 North Carolina on Sunday, 4-1, and tied No. 3 Wake Forest on Friday, 2-2.
Senior goalie Sean Carr made 16 saves against the Tar Heels.
After making three saves in the first 24 minutes, North Carolina sophomore Enzo Martinez put his team ahead, 1-0, in the 26th minute with a chip-shot out of Carr's reach.
Martinez scored another goal off a give-and-go 50 minutes in to put the Pirates down 2-0. Less than two minutes later, their deficit was extended further when Stephen McCarthy headed in a corner kick for the Tar Heels.
Senior Brayan Martinez got the Hall on the board in the 53rd minute with a goal in the lower right corner off of a pass from senior Steven Rose.
The Tar Heels scored their fourth and final goal in the 81st minute to make the score 4-1.
"North Carolina was definitely a good team and I think we had some tired legs," Rose said. "We rotated through a lot of a guys to try to compensate for that but in the end, we got outplayed."
Seton Hall played its first game of the regular season last Friday against third ranked Wake Forest.
Although they gave up the first goal of the game in the 12th minute, the Pirates responded with two goals to take a 2-1 lead going into halftime.
"We were actually pretty positive going in because everybody gets a clean slate," Rose said. "The game was almost a no-lose situation because it gave us a lot of confidence knowing that we could play with them."
During the first half of play, the Pirates outshot the Demon Deacons 8-3, including six scoring chances on net in addition to carrying a 5-0 lead in corners.
Junior Hayden Morris received a pass from senior Dritan Sela, in the 15th minute, and fired it from the left wing to tie the game at a goal apiece.
The Hall took the 2-1 lead in the 40th minute, with Rose heading in a free kick from sophomore Adriano Gabriele.
After Bonder suffered a hit with four minutes remaining in regulation, Carr entered the game and allowed a goal 17 seconds later when he came out to meet the ball. Luca Gimenez beat him to it and found the back of the open net to even the score, 2-2.
"The timing of the injury was unfortunate and it was asking a lot of Sean to come in having not played the entire game," Rose said. "There was a little confusion of what was going on, and during that confusion, [Gimenez] was able to sneak it in."
In the overtime periods, both teams recorded only one shot on goal and the game ended in a stalemate.
The Hall plays their first home games of the season at Owen T. Carroll Field Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. against Boston University and Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. against Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Rose said the team now has some extra confidence and is excited to play at home in front of the fans.
"We've had four days of rest and we're looking to get two wins and have a successful weekend," Rose said.
Gabrielle Kiger can be reached at gabrielle.kiger@student.shu.edu.
