The Seton Hall Prep soccer team is all smiles after winning the Essex County Tournament championship on Saturday, Oct. 22.
WEST ORANGE, NJ — The Seton Hall Prep soccer team raised its record to 18-2 on the season and kept its winning streak to eight matches in a row, winning two matches last week in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Non-Public A North state tournament.
As the No. 1 seed, the Pirates hosted both matches at Brendan P. Tevlin Memorial Field in West Orange. On Wednesday, Nov. 2, in the quarterfinal round, the Pirates defeated No. 8 seed Don Bosco Prep, 1-0, in double overtime. It was a tight defensive battle all afternoon, broken with 7:31 left in the second overtime period when SHP senior Karan Chauhan scored into the lower right corner of the net on a give-and-go pass from senior Joaquin Niehenke. Senior Aidan Donovan made three saves to record his fourth clean sheet of the season.
After the match, Chauhan said, “We were knocking on the door the whole game. Our coaches kept telling us to keep battling and it was just a matter of time before we scored, and they were right.”
SHP head coach Marty Berman added, “This was a typical state tournament game, close marking and a battle throughout. Don Bosco played their hearts out. We stayed with, battled, and finally scored.”
In an early Saturday morning match on Nov. 5, the Pirates defeated No. 4 seed Dwight- Englewood, 6-0, in the semifinals. Junior Eddie Krupski opened the scoring with 25:37 left in the first half on assists by sophomore Lucas Mendes and senior Marcus Brozon. Niehenke made it 2-0 on a free kick with 9:38 left. In the second half, the Pirates scored four goals to make the final 6-0. Krupski scored from Mendes, senior Luke Warjanka scored on assists by sophomore Daniel Ariza and senior Julien Siljanovski. Ariza scored from Warjanka and scored again unassisted. Donovan had two saves and junior Raymond Bonanno had one save to record the team’s 11th shutout of the season.
After the match, when asked about reaching the North final for the second year in a row, Krupski said, “It feels great. We have been working very hard all season, and now the hard work is paying off.”
Niehenke added, “(I’m) very excited to move on to the next round. We are focusing on one game at a time and making sure we are locked into the present and not getting ahead of ourselves.”
The North final was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m., after press time, against No. 2 seed Bergen Catholic (15-4-1), which defeated No. 3 seed Delbarton 1-0 in the other semifinal. In the South title game, Christian Brothers Academy will take on St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City.
The Pirates are ranked in the following polls:
- Star-Ledger: No. 1 in New Jersey, No. 1 in Essex County, No. 1 in nonpublic schools.
- Prep Soccer: No. 15 in National Top 50.
- United Soccer Coaches Association: No. 16 in National Top 25, No. 3 in Region III.
Photo Courtesy of PJ Candido
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