The Seton Hall men’s soccer team defeated Villanova 2-0 at Owen T. Carroll Field in its last match of the season on Wednesday night. The team honored its11 seniors prior to the match, and later proceeded to play one of its most complete performances of the season to secure the team’s sixth win of the season.
The game began rather quietly, with not too much action near the net, however, Seton Hall continued pushing. The Pirates broke the scoreless tie in the 12th minute with Jonathan Jimenez’s second goal of the season, with the sophomore knocking in a header off the rebound of a shot that hit the crossbar.
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Photo via Megan O'Brien/Staff Photographer[/caption]
For the rest of the half, the game played out in a defensive manner with only five shots coming from Villanova. With no answer from the visitors to Seton Hall’s opener, the score at the half was 1-0.
In the second half, the defensive intensity of the Pirates continued, however the Wildcats gained more possession than they had in the first half.
But with the Wildcats threatening, the Pirates capitalized and extended their lead in the 73rd minute, after a Villanova handball in the box set up a penalty kick for the Pirates. Stepping up for Seton Hall was none other than Andres Arcila, who on his Senior Day, scored his ninth goal of the season.
The goal brought Arcila’s point total on the season to 21, the most among any Pirate men’s soccer player in a single season since Samuel Petrone had an identical nine goals and three assists in 2008.
Following the penalty kick goal, Villanova’s offense continued to struggle, as Seton Hall played smart down the stretch to shut-out the Wildcats 2-0.
“It’s very important to end my Seton Hall career with a win. A lot of fans came out to support in this cold weather, and we wanted to put on a show for them,” Arcila said after the win.
Coach Gerson Echeverry was similarly happy that the team was able to end the season on a positive note.
“We wanted to make sure these guys had a lasting memory before they left,” Echeverry said. “We had a chat, the boys were really upbeat, and they just came out here and they went after it, and I’m extremely proud of that.”
With the win, Seton Hall finishes off the year 6-10-1 with a 3-6 record in conference play, just a point shy of earning a Big East Tournament invitation.
Keith Egan can be reached at keith.egan@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @Keith_Egan10.
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