[caption id="attachment_11255" align="alignnone" width="660"]
Seton Hall Athletics[/caption]
The Seton Hall women’s soccer team improved to 2-7-2 on a rainy Thursday night when the team defeated Marquette 1-0 for its first ever win over the Golden Eagles.
“I’m ecstatic, but I’m ecstatic more so for these women that have been working extremely hard to accomplish what we accomplished today,” head coach Rick Stainton said of the win.
It was an extremely tight defensive game, especially in the first half, until Pirates midfielder Eva Gonzalez hit the crossbar with 18 minutes left. Both teams seemed to find some offensive rhythm toward the end of the first half in a mainly defensive game overall. Marquette led 5-3 in shots at the end of the half.
That offensive rhythm carried over into the second half of play as both teams exchanged offensive chances. Halfway through, Marquette dominated possession until the Pirates broke the tie. With nine minutes left in the game, midfielder Amanda Gulli crossed the ball from the right side of the field towards the net and went in off the Marquette defender to give Seton Hall the 1-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles had a chance on a free kick with a minute to go, but the Pirates prevailed defensively and got sophomore goalie Illissa Blackshear the shutout.
When asked about Blackshear’s shutout in net, Stainton said the team “expects that from her.” Stainton added that “with her athleticism and her focus, we know she’s going to come up with the big save.”
Blackshear became the first ever Seton Hall women’s soccer goalkeeper to record a win against Marquette, as the Pirates were 0-4-1 against the Golden Eagles all-time before Thursday night’s game. The junior recorded six saves on 16 shots.
“As a collective whole, I think we played amazing,” Blackshear said. “Our defense, our backline was amazing.”
Seton Hall will head out to Chicago, Ill., to take on DePaul (8-2-2) on Sunday.
“They’re the reigning champs, we have respect for them,” Stainton said. “But we also know what we’re capable of doing.”
Blackshear said that Seton Hall will have to “play hard, play together” and “literally go into the game and expect to win” to defeat DePaul.
The women’s soccer team will look to win back-to-back games for the first time this season against the Blue Demons.
Comments
