Spring represents renewal, a fresh start, new beginnings—and a chance for Seton Hall men’s soccer to bring home a brand-new trophy.
In their second game of the Metro Spring College Cup—a four-game exhibition tournament where eight schools from the New York-New Jersey Metro area face each other across dates in March and April—the Pirates beat the Hofstra Pride 5-3 in penalty kicks thanks to a clutch performance from sophomore midfielder Hannes Ottosson on Saturday.
With their third penalty kick, Hofstra’s shot went soaring over the crossbar to give SHU a 3-2 advantage. Matching each other with their next two shots, Ottoson sent the Pride’s goalkeeper the wrong way to secure the penalty kick win for the Pirates, with the rest of the team joining him in celebration afterward.
Ottosson’s clutch-ness didn’t end there—he was the one who also sent the game into penalty kicks with a goal in the dying minutes of regulation.
Trailing for the entire game after Hofstra scored with their very first shot on goal from a corner kick within the opening minute, Ottoson found space on the left side of Hofstra’s box and fired a shot across goal that settled in the bottom-right corner of the net, tying the game at 1-1 at the 87 minute mark.
Ottoson’s reaction was an emotional one, as he kissed the ground and held his face in his hands after his teammates joined him in celebration once again.
Prior to Ottoson’s goal, SHU had recorded 11 shots total in the game, but to no avail, as Hofstra’s opening minute goal continued to hang overhead.
At halftime, trailing 1-0, The Hall had a 5-2 advantage in shots, while Hofstra led in shots saved with two to SHU’s zero.
SHU’s best chances of the game came in the first half, and from sophomore and All-BIG EAST Second Team midfielder Til Kauschke specifically.
Taking a free kick just outside the box, the Germany native’s shot sailed up and over Hofstra’s wall of defenders, and was headed for the upper-right corner before the Pride’s goalkeeper got a fingertip to send it off the crossbar at the 22 minute mark, with no Pirate there to follow.
Kauschke was involved in the Pirates’ best chance prior to that as well. Freshman forward Uri Koffi found Kauschke, who received the ball, flicked it up to himself and attempted a bicycle kick, which was saved once again by the Pride’s goalkeeper at the 29 minute mark.
Kauschke’s second bicycle kick attempt on the ensuing corner kick, however, didn’t go as well. Eyeing a 50/50 ball dropping in the air, Kauschke collided with a Hofstra defender, an offense which he received a yellow card for.
Minutes before—the game’s opening minute, to be exact—the Pirates conceded a corner kick, which then turned into a free header in the box for the Pride’s Carter Schmitz that soared past the fingertips of SHU’s senior goalkeeper Mick Sipples and up into the upper-right corner of the net.
The Pirates will play at Rutgers next, in a matchup originally set for Mar 28 but rescheduled to a later date.
Once they complete their third match, The Hall will face the team with the corresponding rank in the opposite group, in a playoff match on the last weekend of the month.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor of The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
