Seton Hall Prep’s Mason Toye pursues the ball past a sprawling Westfield player in the Pirates’ 3-0 win in the season opener. Toye scored two goals and assisted on the other goal by Ryan Vazquez i the victory.
Photo by Rich Morris/courtesy of SHP.
Editor’s note: Topdrawersoccer.com national polls are updated at the bottom of the article.
WEST ORANGE, NJ – The 2016 Seton Hall Prep varsity soccer team opened the season 1-0-1 this past week.
On Thursday, Sept. 8, the Pirates opened the season at Alumni Field at Rutgers Newark and defeated Westfield, 3-0. Senior forward Ryan Vazquez opened the scoring with 20:05 left in the first half on a rebound from a shot from fellow senior forward Mason Toye to give SHP a 1-0 lead. In the second half, SHP dominated Westfield, scoring two goals. Just 9:36 into the second half, Toye scored off a crossing pass from senior midfielder Brian Tevlin. He received a pass from junior midfielder Michael Pavick. With 8:35 left, Toye scored an unassisted goal to make the final 3-0.
After the match, Toye commented, “We came out slow in the first half, but dominated in the second half. We have a lot of team speed and that is how we defeated a very good Westfield team.” Sophomore goalie Liam Bertrand said, “It feels great to play in my first varsity game and the team to get a victory over a very good team. I really enjoy playing with these guys. They are a great bunch of teammates.”
SHP head coach Marty Berman said about the first game of the season, “Westfield is a really good team and they move the ball very well. This was an extremely difficult game. Our defense played very well today.”
SHP was outshot, 6-5, in the match. Bertrand made all six saves.
On Saturday evening, Sept. 10, SHP hosted West Orange High School at Millburn HS in a battle of top 10 teams in New Jersey. WOHS is No. 3 and SHP is No. 4. They battled to a scoreless double-overtime draw.
WOHS senior goalie Diego Pedrido had nine saves while Bertrand had five saves.
Berman said, “I’m really pleased with the way we played tonight. It would have been great to get the win and horrible to lose. I am glad that did not happen.”
WOHS head coach Doug Nevins commented after the match, “It’s a good sign that we were able to hang in there. We played this one like a big county or state tournament game. We did not want to make a mistake and lose.”
Seton Hall Prep’s defense matched West Orange’s and, although SHP dictated play for most of the match, rose to the occasion when WOHS looked for counterattacks.
Seton Hall Prep soccer team blanks Westfield, draws town neighbor West Orange HS to 0-0 tie to start season added by Jeff Goldberg on
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