Seton Hall Prep Pirates soccer team rallies late to beat Columbia

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep soccer team raised its record to 4-1 on the season, going 2-1 this past week. 

On Monday, Sept. 12, the Pirates defeated Verona, 7-0, at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in West Orange. In the first half, the scorers were junior Eddie Krupski from senior Peter Batanjany, senior Joaquin Niehenke off a free kick, sophomore Daniel Ariza from senior Karan Chauhan and junior Maxwell Williams, and senior Luke Warjanka from Chauhan. 

In the second half, sophomore Lucas Mendes scored from Nicholas Lapczynski, Mendes from Ariza and senior Julien Siljanovski, and senior Colton Grove from Warjanka. Senior goalie Aidan Donovan had two saves, and junior goalie Raymond Bonanno had three saves.

On Thursday, Sept. 15, the Pirates traveled to the Underhill Sports Complex in Maplewood to take on Columbia. Seton Hall came back in dramatic fashion to win 3-2 in overtime. The Cougars took a 1-0 lead with 1:00 left in the first half when Jack Niles scored off a scramble in front. In the second half, Donovan stopped a Cougar penalty kick just 6:30 into the half to keep the Cougar lead at 1-0. 

With 13:17 left, Owen Bellard connected to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. The Pirates mounted a comeback when, with 1:30 left, Krupski scored on an assist by Mendes and scored again just :23 later on an assist by Warjanka to tie the score at 2-2. 

In overtime. Chauhan scored just :46 into the period on assists by junior Whye Li Ong and Krupski to complete the comeback. 

Following the game, SHP head coach Marty Berman said, “The team worked and played hard all game. This showed our grit, resiliency and toughness. I have seen a lot of craziness in my coaching career, and today’s game is right up there.”

On a beautiful Sunday morning, Sept. 18, the Pirates traveled to the United States Training Center in Downingtown, Pa., to participate in the Mainline High School Jamboree. Their opponent was Woodstock Academy from Woodstock, Conn., a prep school that uses postgraduates. Woodstock won, 3-2, with a game-winning goal scored with 20:38 left in the second half. The Pirates tied the score at 8:10 earlier on a penalty kick goal by Niehenke. Mendes opened the scoring when he stole the ball in the box at 6:30 into the first half. Woodstock came back with two goals later in the half. Seton Hall outshot Woodstock 8-3.

  Seton Hall Prep soccer