On Thursday, the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship kicked off on fields across the country.
This included Owen T. Carroll Field in South Orange, as Seton Hall men’s soccer hosted the Siena University Saints for the first tournament game they have hosted since 2005.
After winning their conference, this game marked the first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history for the Saints.
As a result of not making the Big East Tournament, this was the Pirates' first game in almost two weeks. Despite this, SHU got off to a strong start to the game.
“[In] the first half, [it] didn’t look like we’d been off for 13 days,” head coach Andreas Lindberg said after the game.
In just the first ten minutes of the game, junior forward Joseph Min and sophomore forward Mikkel Lejbowicz notched chances that were saved by Siena’s goalkeeper. None of the remaining seven shots the Pirates managed in the half resulted in a goal, as the game was tied 0-0 at halftime.
The Saints started the second half aggressively as they logged the first chance of the half with a shot that went wide of the net. A few minutes later, however, the Pirates responded with the first goal of the game. After Min collected a loose pass by the Saints, graduate defender Sam Björk drew a corner kick.
Senior midfielder and corner kick taker Hugo Gerbore launched the ball to the far end of the six-yard box to find senior defender Agustin Resch. Resch headed the ball straight into the back of the net to put SHU up 1-0 in the 59th minute.
Despite the goal, the Pirates were on the back foot for the closing minutes of the half. The game grew very intense as several fouls were committed and four yellow cards were handed out.
In the 89th minute, the Saints broke through the Pirate defense to tie the game. Both teams were unable to create any good chances in the dying minutes of regulation, leading to overtime.
The two ten-minute overtime periods came and went with very little to threaten the scoresheet (only three shots and one save total). With the score still tied, the game went to penalty kicks, with the hosts shooting first.
The first taker was graduate forward Mans Saebbo, who sent the Saints’ goalkeeper the wrong way as the ball soared into the net.
Up next came the first trial of Pirates senior goalkeeper, Matias Molina, who saved the first penalty from Siena.
With SHU ahead after the first kicks, senior defender Konstantin Donalies stepped up to the penalty spot. This time the Saints' keeper went the right way—but was not fast enough to save Donalies’s shot, as the Pirates led 2-0.
Molina continued his spectacular performance by making a diving save on the second chance for Siena.
Next to the penalty spot was senior midfielder Axel Berglund, who whizzed the ball into the back of the net to keep the Pirates perfect in the shootout.
As the next Siena player came up to goal, his quick run-up hit right off the crossbar as the entire Seton Hall team rushed the field to celebrate Molina’s MVP performance.
“I knew, [in] the second half that the game was gonna go to the kicks,” said Molina after the game. “I knew that I had to trust myself, be confident. Pick a side and go for it.”
The trust Molina puts in himself is reciprocated by coach Lindberg and the whole team.
“I think we have the best goalkeeper in the country on penalty kicks,” said Lindberg. “I’m not surprised and don’t think the boys are either.”
With the win, the Pirates will advance to the second round of the tournament against the No. 11 seed Bryant University Bulldogs on Nov .23.
Bryant has a record of 16-2-2 on the season, with their only two losses both being against the University of Vermont, who earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. On Sunday, the Pirates will make the trip to Rhode Island as they fight to keep their season alive.
Ace Crawford is a writer for The Setonian’s Sports Section. They can be reached at grace.crawford@student.shu.edu.
