South Orange, N.J. – The Seton Hall men's and women's swimming and diving teams took home losses at the hands of the Yale Bulldogs on Friday evening in the Arthur E. Imperatore Natatorium. The loss is only the second at home this season for both Pirates’ teams, as the men and women drop to 4-2 at home.
The Hall came out the gates lethargic and found themselves playing catch-up for most of the meet. Yale won the first nine events, although many Pirates were able to earn runner-up finishes.
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Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption]
In the tenth event, Josh Tosoni won the 100-yard breaststroke to seal the first victory of the day for Seton Hall. The crowd, coaches and players alike became energized as the sophomore Tosoni approached the finish line for the win. Tosoni credited that race for building the team’s confidence.
“Yale is a fast team and we needed that win to help prove that we could win some races,” Tosoni said. “It’s hard to get up and race sometimes, but we challenged them and that is what we can take away from this meet.”
Female swimmer Jordan Decker was another Pirate swimmer who took home first price, with Decker finishing first in the 50-yard freestyle. Courtney McCardle, meanwhile, earned a runner-up finish in the same event.
The final score does not tell the complete story as to how hard the Pirates fought in every race. While Yale secured a majority of the top finishes, the Hall was right behind them on several different occasions.
One of those occasions was the 100-yard breaststroke, in which male swimmer Tyler Kauth took home third place.
Female swimmer Sara Ouellette came into Friday red-hot with wins in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle against Fairfield on Jan. 14. Ouellette finished third in the 200-yard freestyle tonight, despite battling for second most of the way. Despite the disappointing loss, Ouellette found some positives to take into the next meet.
“We knew going in that they were going to be a hard team,” Ouellette said. “We did so much better than we expected against a good team, so I think we can move forward with that.”
Up next for both swimming and diving teams is a home meet versus Lehigh University. That meet is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 27, at 1 p.m. in the Arthur E. Imperatore Natatorium.
Evando Thompson can be reached at evando.thompson@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @Thompsev.
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