Brian Sheehan
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The 2021 Seton Hall Prep soccer team has opened its season with two victories. In the opening game Tuesday, Sept. 7, they traveled to Van Brunt Field on the campus of Montclair Kimberley Academy and defeated the Cougars 2-1 in overtime. Montclair Kimberley opened the scoring just 6:29 into the first half. In the second half, Drew Ligotti scored with 17:28 left on assists by senior David Schuster and senior Edward Zazzali. In the first overtime, senior Charles Giordano passed to senior CJ Bubniak who crossed it to senior Zaiden James who headed it home for the game winner with 3:15 left. Following the game, James said, “I saw the ball in the air and I knew if I got there first, I could get my head on it and it would have a good chance of going in.” Head Coach Marty Berman, who is in his 36th year as the Head Coach of Seton Hall Prep, commented about the comeback victory. “There are a lot of core guys that played a lot last year and you have to be scrappy to win the game. You can’t give up and we showed a lot of resilience out there today.”
On Sunday, Sept. 12, the Pirates hosted Livingston at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in West Orange and defeated the Lancers 2-0. Senior Edward Dolgov took the free kick to the far post and Zazzali flicked it across the goal mouth and senior Brian Sheehan headed it in with 26:11 left in the first half. In the second half, junior Joaquin Niehenke connected on a penalty kick with 27:02 left in the half to make the score 2-0. Senior Aidan Batista recorded two saves and junior Aidan Donovan did not have a save as they recorded the clean sheet. Following the game, Dolgov said, “Livingston is a big rival, and they are always a great challenge for us.” Berman added, “The kids come in every day and work hard as we have a motto and we want the kids to check their ego at the door and the kids have done a really good job over the years living up to that.”
SHP in the polls: Star Ledger – #2 in New Jersey, #2 in Non-Public School Group, and #1 in Essex County. PrepSoccer.Net – #7 in their National Fab 50 Poll, #5 in the East Region, and #4 in New Jersey. USA Today/United Soccer coaches: Region III #7.
Photos Courtesy of Rich Morris/SHP
SHP vs. Montclair Kimberley Academy
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