The Seton Hall women's soccer team fought tooth and nail with Delaware in its home opener on Sunday night at Owen T. Carroll Field, but the end result was a 0-0 draw. Early in the first half, much like in the prior game against Siena, the Pirates were pinned in their own zone. The Blue Hens began by ringing a shot off the crossbar just 15 minutes into the contest, and followed that with a break in the 20th minute that was thwarted by goalkeeper Anna MacLean. Seton Hall broke through with its first chance of the match in the 27th minute, as Dani Brinckman weaved in the box and chipped a shot that was saved by Delaware goalie Kamryn Stablein. As the Pirates applied more pressure, Stablein stood tall for the Blue Hens. In only her second career start, the freshman was able to come up with multiple impressive saves to keep the game knotted at zero. The most notable Pirate of the night, primarily in the first half, was Izzy Engel. Building on her impressive performance against Siena, Engel was seemingly in the mix on every play. With just ten seconds to go in the first half, Engel produced the team’s best chance in the game thus far, as she was able to find room and fire a shot at the top left corner. However, the threat was thwarted by Stablein, who was able to get a hand on it. Both teams returned to action in the second half in a more timid manner. The game slowed down considerably in its latter portion, but the Blue Hens ultimately had the advantage through the remainder of regulation. In the 74th minute, Seton Hall’s Emily Rimdzius picked up a yellow card and set up the Blue Hens with a free kick just outside the box. Delaware elected to play the ball short and to the left, but the ensuing cross was blocked away by Engel. At the end of regulation, Seton Hall led in both shots, 10-8, and shots on target, 4-2. The teams, to no avail, traded chances early in overtime, as the Pirates had a corner and Delaware had a semi-break within the first two minutes. Nothing else came to fruition for either team until 15 seconds left in the second overtime period, where MacLean was caught off her line in a scramble. Delaware was able to sneak a ball by the senior and on target, but Rimdzius headed the ball off the line to keep the score level. Seton Hall returns to action in search of its first win of the season against Loyola University on Thursday, August 23, at 6:30 p.m., at Owen T. Carroll Field. Kevin Kopf can be reached at kevin.kopf@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @KMKTNF.
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