Seton Hall Prep soccer team kicks up great start to season

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The 2019 Seton Hall Prep soccer team was  looking forward to the upcoming season with top returnees Jason Pereira, Aidan Dunphy and Lucas Ross leading the Pirates under the leadership of head coach Marty Berman, who enters his 34th year with a 464-188-61 record.

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, they opened the season at Fortunato Field in Montclair, defeating Montclair, 1-0. Senior defenseman Alex Treska connected on a free kick from just outside the right-corner of the box with 8:02 left in the first half. Junior Tomas Hut made six saves in his first clean sheet of the season.

Following the game, Treska said, “Nobody really knows how hard I have worked in the offseason. I feel great and could not feel better. There is no better feeling than to get the game-winner.”

Dunphy added, “This victory was huge today for us. We have worked very hard this summer and we knew what to do.”

Treska helped key a back line that kept the dangerous Montclair offense off the board. The back line consists of seniors Jason Pereira, Nicholas Sprague, Salvatore Vito and Seba Niehenke.

Berman said, “It’s a really good back line in front of a really good goalie (Hut). We are only going to get better as the season progresses. Hut’s play was sort of what we expected and what we were hoping for. I thought he would be a big-time goalie for us this season and he came through for us today.”

On Friday, Sept. 6, the Pirates hosted Glen Ridge at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field and won, 3-0, behind six saves from Hut and one save from Aidan Batista. Nick Palangio opened the scoring with 3:50 left in the first half on an assist by Tate Sekel. Just nine minutes into the second half, Dunphy connected on a goal from Sekel and Treska to make it 2-0. Ross scored with 9:00 left on an assist by Dunphy for the final tally of the afternoon.

The Pirates are ranked in the following polls:

TopDrawerSoccer.Com Top 50: #7, #4 in the East Region, #3 in New Jersey.

Star Ledger: #2 in New Jersey, #2 Non-Public Schools, #1 Essex County.