The Pirates gather for a group pose after winning the Essex County Tournament tile on Saturday, May 6.
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep lacrosse team, which is ranked No. 2 in New Jersey and No. 19 in the country, won three matches last week to improve to 14-0 on the season.
The Pirates also captured their 10th consecutive Essex County Tournament title defeating Caldwell 4-3 at Allen “Jake” Jacobson Memorial Field at Livingston High School in Livingston on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, May 6. This was also their 13th consecutive final appearance and 17th overall final appearance in the 19 years of the tournament.
In this tightly-fought game, Caldwell opened the scoring with 1:12 left in the first quarter before junior Brad Schuster tied the score on an assist by junior Luigi Pantano with :38 left. In the second quarter, the Chiefs took a 2-1 lead with 8:36 left before Schuster tied the score on an assist by junior Tyler Juhlin with 5:46 remaining. The score remained tied at 2-2 until Schuster scored his third goal of the match on an assist by Juhlin with 7:45 left in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, being two men up, Caldwell tied the score with 6:35 left. Just 2:04 later, Juhlin scored the go-ahead goal for a Pirate 4-3 lead as they held on for their 13th Essex County Tournament title.
Following the match, Schuster said, “We definitely needed a game like this because you just can’t roll into the Non-Public A state tournament just rolling over every team.”
Juhlin added, “We definitely needed a game like this because we haven’t faced any adversity at any point during the season. It will help us later on in the playoffs.”
SHP head coach Ross Turco said, “We absolutely need this. We are looking for big game environments and for us to come out with a win in a hard-fought game and to feel that pressure is very important. We wanted to see how the guys respond to a championship game, which this is, and the chips are on the line. They came away with a win and that is what matters.”
In the semifinals, at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in West Orange, Seton Hall defeated West Essex 17-1. The following players all scored two goals: seniors Matthew Pepe, Andrew Daly, juniors Schuster, Christian Schweiger, and sophomore Nolan Sabel.
Two days earlier, the Pirates defeated Millburn 17-2 in the quarterfinals. Pepe and senior Elijah Rippey each scored three goals while 10 other players scored one goal.
Photo Courtesy of SHP Athletics
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