Columbia HS alumnus Marty Berman guides Seton Hall Prep soccer team to magical 20-0-1 season

MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — In his illustrious 36 seasons at the helm, Seton Hall Prep head soccer coach Marty Berman has guided some amazing Pirate teams.
This year’s team undoubtedly ranks as one of the best.

The Pirates this fall completed an unbeaten 20-0-1 season, sweeping the Super Essex Conference–American Division, the Essex County Tournament, and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Non-Public A North and Non-Public A titles. They also have been ranked nationally all season and finished as the No. 1 team in the state, according to the Star-Ledger. The West Orange–based school was recently ranked No. 5 in the national by Prepsoccer.net. Their one tie game was against Montclair, 1-1, on Sept. 28 at home.

This year marked the team’s third straight sectional title and second Non-Public A state championship in the past three seasons, after going 22-1-1 in 2019 and 7-1-2 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign.

Berman, a Columbia High School alumnus, Class of 1970, had a special thrill earlier in the season as he earned his 500th career victory when the Pirates defeated Millburn, 6-0, Sept. 24 at home in the team’s seventh game of the season.

For Berman, coaching this year’s team was a joy.

“This team was special in its own way,” Berman said. “It was a great group to coach and be part of. They had a magical run, from start to finish.”

The Pirates defeated crosstown rival West Orange High School in the ECT championship game by a score of 2-0 on Oct. 17 at Belleville High School. Three days later, the teams met in a divisional game, with host SHP winning a hard-fought 1-0 decision. The two schools have a lot of respect for each other, said Berman. Doug Nevins, who completed his 22nd year as the WOHS head coach and has guided the WOHS Mountaineers to several county, sectional and state titles, played for Berman when he was a student at SHP. The Pirates and WOHS also met in the ECT finals in 2006 (West Orange won, 4-1) and 2010 (SHP won, 2-1).

The Pirates were simply dominant this season. They scored 68 goals and allowed only 6 all season, with a whopping 16 shutouts in 21 games. In the postseason, SHP, the top seed, defeated No. 2 seed rival Delbarton, 1-0, in the Non-Public A North final and then defeated Christian Brothers Academy, 2-0, in the Non-Public A final at Kean University in Union on Nov. 14 to cap the unbeaten season, its first undefeated season since 2010, when they went 18-0-3.

The Pirates boasted talented players. But what was impressive to Berman was their humility and willingness to do whatever it took to help the team win.

“They were humble,” Berman said. “They were incredibly coachable. My assistant coaches would break down film and go over things in practice, and kids were willing to listen and willing to learn and improve. We had a little mantra of check your ego at the door, and the kids really did, in terms of listening to the coaches and playing for each other. They all play pretty good-level club ball, but they played a lot of different clubs and certainly have a lot of individual talent. But rather than worrying about who was getting the goals or who was getting publicity, or anything like that, they just played for each other and worked so well with each other. We could be pretty explosive at times, but then we can be pretty possessive. Defensively, we showed an incredible amount of grit.”

Aidan Batista was particularly impressive in goal. The Pirates had an all-state goalie in Tomas Hut for the last two years, but Batista, a senior, stepped in this season and was able to continue that dominance in goal, posting six shutouts.

Berman said it was especially nice to see Batista perform so well. Berman coached Batista’s father, Art, a 1990 SHP graduate who was an all-state goalie for the Pirates. In the 1989 season, Art’s senior year, the Pirates defeated Columbia, which was No. 1 in the nation at the time and coached by the late Gene Chyzowych, who collected 757 victories as the head coach at Columbia for 50 seasons, from 1964 to 2013.

Aidan Batista had a lot of help from his defense, which thwarted strong attacks from West Orange, with their patented throw-ins and corner kicks, and from Montclair, which put relentless pressure in the final 20 minutes of the Pirates’ 1-0 win in the ECT semifinals, noted Berman.

The Pirates will always savor this magical season. But they understood that the team always came first, which ultimately is the reason for the program’s tremendous success.

“We built a real good legacy and kids want to be part of it and keep it going,” said Berman, who still keeps in touch with several CHS soccer alumni. “It’s not like, ‘Hey, it’s my turn to be great.’ It’s like, ‘It’s our turn to be great.’ That’s a huge part of the equation. I’m pretty blessed to have that kind of spirit and attitude.”

Berman also feels blessed to have a mentor in Chyzowych.

When Chyzowych began coaching at CHS in 1964, there was no youth soccer program in the community, and he started a clinic that Berman, then 12 years old, attended. “He started this clinic from scratch and he drove around town and got kids to play. He would finish his high school practices and stick around the field and coach for hours, little kids teams.”

As a sophomore and junior at CHS, Berman played on Chyzowych teams that qualified for the state tournament, in the 1967 and 1968 seasons — the first time Chyzowych teams qualified. After Berman graduated from college, Chyzowych asked Berman to coach his CHS players in the spring. Berman, who has been the head coach at SHP since 1986, faced Chyzowych when their teams played in the old Iron Hills Conference.

Berman called Chyzowych a “father figure” to him. “He was loved by so many of his former players,” said Berman of Chyzowych.
Indeed, there are likely many Seton Hall Prep players who would say the same thing about Berman.

Photos Courtesy of Rich Morris/SHP

  Seton Hall Prep soccer