Photos by Rich Morris/courtesy of SHP. Seton Hall Prep (blue uniforms) vs. Nutley, Oct. 11, in Nutley. SHP won, 3-1.
WEST ORANGE, NJ – The Seton Hall Prep varsity soccer team received the No. 1 seed in the 44th Essex County Tournament.
The Pirates will host No. 17 seed Newark Central or No.16 seed Science Park in the first round on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field at 4 p.m. The winner will face either No. 8 seed West Essex or No. 9 seed Columbia in the quarterfinal round on Oct. 21.
The semifinals will be held at Belleville High School on Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The championship game is Saturday, Oct. 28, at Caldwell HS at 5:30 p.m.
The Pirates lost to Newark East Side in last year’s ECT championship game.
The Pirates traveled to Father Glotzbach Field in Nutley on Oct. 11 and defeated Nutley, 3-1. SHP opened the scoring when Joe Cubero scored on assists by brothers Adam Silva and Paul Silva with 11:54 left in the first half. Joe Kearns made it 2-0 with 7:39 left on a rebound of his penalty kick. Nutley cut the lead to 2-1 on a penalty kick by Ilya Udalov just :51 later. Aidan Dunphy scored on a rebound of a Skyler Storms shot with 2:27 left to make the score 3-1. Liam Bertrand had one save and Gabe Ferreira had three saves for the Pirates.
On Friday, Oct. 13, the Pirates hosted South Kent from Connecticut – the top-ranked prep school in the country. South Kent won, 2-1. South Kent opened the scoring with 37:18 left in the second half. SHP tied the score with 11:39 left when Dunphy scored on an assist by Storms. South Kent won it with a goal with 2:05 left. Bertrand had one save. SHP out-shot South Kent, 7-3. The Pirates moved to a 14-2-1 record.
The Pirates are ranked in the following polls:
TopDrawerSoccer.Com – #3 New Jersey, #4 East Region, and #26 in Fab 50
USA Today/United Soccer Coaches – #5 Region III, Super 25/National Poll – Also Receiving Votes
News 12 – Varsity – #2 – New Jersey, #2 Tri-State.
The Star-Ledger/NJ.Com – #2 – New Jersey, #2 – Non-Public Schools, #1 – Super Essex Conference.
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