The men's soccer team redeemed their loss in the season opener by defeating the Army Black Knights by the score of 2-0 on Monday Night.
In the 63rd minute of action junior forward Max Garcia faked out Black Knight defender Cameron Niccum causing him to trip Garcia in the box, giving the Hall a penalty kick.
Senior midfielder Adriano Gabriele stepped into the box to shoot the penalty kick. Gabriele faked goalkeeper Winston Boldt to the right and fired to the left side of the net for the first score of the evening.
22 minutes later Garcia sped past the Black Knight defense drawing Boldt out to defend the attack. In an attempt to stop the ball, Boldt tripped up Garcia and in the process earned another penalty kick.
Garcia, just as Gabriele did, faked Boldt to the right and shot the ball to the left side of the net for the insurance goal.
Entering the game, the Pirates were 1-23-2 all-time against Army with the one win coming last season also off the foot of Gabriele in a penalty kick situation.
After allowing three unanswered goals against St. Peter's in the Pirates' previous game, head coach Gerson Echeverry said the preparation for Monday's game was similar to preparing for the Peacocks.
"(We did) Nothing different," Echeverry said. "The guys were a little more focused and organized and they actually listened this time. That was the big difference."
For the second consecutive game the Pirates out-shot their opponent, however on Monday the team was able to convert on their opportunities, to which Echeverry said had nothing to do with the team's effort.
"The effort has been there. I think the difference today was they were actually making plays. You can't win games with just effort. You have to make plays."
Partially outshined by the team's scoring was the solid play in the net by redshirt senior Michael Kuzan, who stopped all four of Army's shots on goal.
"Kuzan was fantastic," Echeverry said. "He did everything that was needed and he answered the call when it was to make big plays. So that's exactly what we need from our goalkeeper to be successful."
Another milestone from Monday evening was the first career win of Echeverry at Seton Hall.
"It's a great feeling," Echeverry said. "Hopefully it's one of many."
The Pirates return to action on Friday against Princeton Army at 7 p.m. at Owen T. Carroll.
T.J. Brennan can be reached at Thomas.brennan@student.shu.edu
