Amanda Boyer/Photography Editor
The Seton Hall Pirates women’s soccer team defeated The LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds, 3-1, in their nonconference finale on Friday night. The Pirates came on to the field flying, scoring two goals in the first five minutes. The first goal was ripped from inside the box by junior forward Kristen Kosch just four minutes into the game.
“It was really important to set the tone for the game,” Kosch said. “We’ve been missing goals for each of the games we’ve played and it was important to put them on their heels and step it up.”
The Pirates did not let up the pressure. 80 seconds after Kosch delivered, sophomore defender Sarah Fiorino put one past LIU goalkeeper Jessica Montrose to give the Pirates a 2-0 advantage. The Pirates played out the rest of the first half dominating possession and out-shooting The Blackbirds 8-5.
The Pirates started the second half maintaining possession. But, there was a bright spot for the Blackbirds. LIU Brooklyn senior midfielder Caroline Kaplan snuck one past Blackshear in the 73rd minute of play to cut the lead to one. This was the first goal surrendered by Blackshear and the Pirates in the last 434 minutes of play. This goal also snapped a streak of three consecutive shutouts for Blackshear, who has only given up four goals all year. The momentum changed right back in a matter of seconds. The Pirates answered as senior forward Angie Shehaj headed in a cross from sophomore forward Sarah Cortes. Just yards away from the net, Shehaj drilled a shot on target that flew past Blackbirds keeper Jessica Montrose.
“It was really important, even though they scored it was important to go back and score again to finalize it (the win),” Shehaj said. The Pirates out-shot the Blackbirds 13-9 and gave them their eighth loss of the season. The Hall will be back in action on September 25th as they open Big East Conference play at Providence at 7pm.
