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Katie Cahalin/Staff Photographer[/caption]
The Seton Hall men’s soccer team has yet to chalk up a victory on the season. Nine matches into the year, the Pirates are 0-8-1 and rank dead last in shots and points in the Big East.
While definitely unsatisfying, the campaign has not been all doom and gloom. SHU has gotten shut out just twice and has shown some serious fight in the biggest contests of the year.
But each time, the team has still come up short.
After dropping a 1-0 battle to St. John’s on Oct. 4, head coach Gerson Echeverry was frustrated.
“It comes to a point where some of these guys have to take responsibility and step up,” Echeverry said. “Regardless of what we are doing, it is just not good enough right now.”
Junior Samuel Geiler was the only Pirate to contribute more than one shot in the 90-minute match, with three others firing off one each. The Red Storm had five shots on goal compared to Seton Hall’s two.
That has been the problem for the Pirates thus far—a lack of attack.
Katie Cahalin/Staff Photographer[/caption]
The Seton Hall men’s soccer team has yet to chalk up a victory on the season. Nine matches into the year, the Pirates are 0-8-1 and rank dead last in shots and points in the Big East.
While definitely unsatisfying, the campaign has not been all doom and gloom. SHU has gotten shut out just twice and has shown some serious fight in the biggest contests of the year.
But each time, the team has still come up short.
After dropping a 1-0 battle to St. John’s on Oct. 4, head coach Gerson Echeverry was frustrated.
“It comes to a point where some of these guys have to take responsibility and step up,” Echeverry said. “Regardless of what we are doing, it is just not good enough right now.”
Junior Samuel Geiler was the only Pirate to contribute more than one shot in the 90-minute match, with three others firing off one each. The Red Storm had five shots on goal compared to Seton Hall’s two.
That has been the problem for the Pirates thus far—a lack of attack.
Creighton leads the conference in shots with 168. That number is more than double Seton Hall’s (73).
There is a reason games are played on the field and not on the stat sheet, though.
Less than a week before losing to St. John’s, Seton Hall had its foot on the throat of the Bluejays, who were—and still are—the nation’s No. 1-ranked team.
The Blue and White clung to a 2-1 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the contest, but then everything fell apart. Creighton roared back and scored twice before the final whistle to halt what would have been a monumental upset for SHU.
“Defending, defending, defending,” Echeverry said after the game. “When you’re giving up this many goals, it’s all about de- fending.”
Tuesday night’s loss to Princeton was the same old song. Geiler and redshirt junior Danny Bartok found the net, but a second-half Tigers header spelled another loss, 3-2.
One bright spot for Seton Hall has been the emergence of sophomore Andres Arcila, who has helped Geiler and Bartok try get some offensive traction going. Arcila and Bartok both have two goals to their credit thus far, while Geiler leads the team with three.
Junior Julian Spindler has done what he can between the posts, but nobody can stay dry in a rainstorm wielding only a tissue.
Despite playing fewer games than any conference team, SHU ranks sixth in saves but eighth in goals allowed.
Up next for the Pirates will be Marquette on the road. The game is set for Saturday Oct. 10.
Thomas Duffy can be reached at thomas.duffy@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @TJDhoops.
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