After being outscored 11-1 at the Old Dominion Tournament last weekend, the Pirates prepare for a home game against in-state foe No. 19 Monmouth University and travel for a match against the University of Delaware.
Because of the lack of offensive output last weekend, first- year head coach Gerson Echeverry said the team has to remember things the coaches stressed before the season.
"First off, we go back to the drawing board in regards to how it is that we need to play," Echeverry said. "I think right now we are very disorganized overall as a unit. We're not doing the little things that we need to do, which we've been harping on since the preseason."
The Pirates have struggled recently scoring the ball, recording only four goals in their last five games.
"Right now I think the other thing is that we need to put our chances away," Echeverry said. "We need eight, nine or 10 chances before we score one goal, while another teams need one maybe two chances and they punish us. So we're always chasing the game. And that's something that right now we don't have the firepower right now to chase any games."
The Pirates were in striking distance after the first half of both games at the Old Dominion Tournament and Echeverry said if the team plays the entire game as they did in the first halves, they will have a chance.
"Our first half of ODU was 0-0 and we had two or three very good chances to score and the first half against VCU, we were down 2-1 and we also had quite a few chances to score and we kept them at bay," Echeverry said. "If we play two halves like that, I think we will have a pretty good chance."
Last season, the Pirates lost to Monmouth, 3-0, surrendering all three goals in the first half, Monmouth will be the second nationally ranked opponent the Pirates play this season. According to Echeverry, the team learned about themselves by playing up last weekend.
"We knew our weakness, and I don't think we have as many strengths as we would like to think we do and those two games really exposed that and there's a long way we are from where we would like to be," Echeverry said. "We need to start paying more attention to the details. We do have some very good players, but we don't have and great players, yet. We also have a pretty young team."
Echeverry said the play of the midfielders is the biggest strength of the team.
"We have some pretty good midfielders who can move the ball around." Echeverry said. After the match against Mon- mouth, the Pirates will travel to Newark, Del. to take on the University of Delaware Blue Hens.
"We're going to go scout them," Echeverry said. "It's a technically gifted team. They do like to attack."
Head coach of the Blue Hens, Ian Hennessy, earned his bach- elor's degree from Seton Hall in 1990. "I know (Hennessy) very well," Echeverry said. "He was one of the best players we ever had here."
Last season, the Pirates tied Delaware 3-3 at Owen T. Carroll Field.
Heading forward, Echeverry said he has stressed organization.
"I'd like us to be more organized," Echeverry said. "I think that too many times when things aren't going well they have a tendency to become disorganized; they have a tendency to panic and instead of playing as a team they start to play as individuals. We're not individually that talented to take over a game on your own. We need more of a team effort for us to not only be able to do things on defense but also on the attack."
The Pirates host No. 19 Mon- mouth at 7 p.m. Friday at Owen T. Carroll Field. The team will travel to play the University of Delaware at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
T.J. Brennan can be reached at Thomas.Brennan@student.shu. edu
