WEST ORANGE – The Seton Hall Prep varsity soccer team ended a great season.
The fourth-seeded Pirates lost to top-seeded Delbarton in a 3-2 heartbreaker in the semifinals of the state North Jersey Non-Public A tournament on Nov. 10 at The Ryan Family Field at Delbarton in Morris Township.
The Pirates finished the season with an 18-2-3 record.
Delbarton opened up a 2-0 lead in the first half on two penalty kicks. The Pirates mounted a comeback in the second half. Just 5:15 in, sophomore midfielder Michael Pavick headed in senior defender Shawn Zimmermann’s corner kick to cut it to 2-1.
Just 57 seconds later, Delbarton scored to make it 3-1. With 20:42 left, Zimmermann hit a corner kick to make it 3-2,
but Delbarton held off a tremendous SHP attack as they out shot them, 7-2, in the second half. Despite the tough loss, SHP head coach Marty Berman praised his team.
“I am so proud of this team because they kept working and never stopped playing hard even though they were down 2-0 and 3-1,” said Berman after the game. “The SHP soccer program would also like to thank the administration and students for their support all season long.”
It marked the second straight season that the Pirates lost to Delbarton in the sectional semifinals. It also was the third straight year Delbarton ended SHP’s season. Delbarton beat the Pirates in the sectional final in 2013.
The following are SHP rankings:
topdrawersoccer: No. 5 in New Jersey. No. 7 in East Region. No. 31 in National.
NSCAA: No. 13 in Region III.
MSG-VARSITY: No. 4 in New Jersey. No. 6 in Tri-State.
NJ.com will not publish state rankings until end of season.
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