The Pirates came into Wednesday’s game looking to stay undefeated and gain some momentum after an impressive 1-0 victory over La Salle last Saturday. They faced off against visitors Fairleigh Dickinson, who lost their only game thus far, in a 2-0 defeat to Fordham.
Goals
23’: CJ Tibbling dribbled away from a couple of defenders on the left side of the field. He drew a foul, but the referee granted Tibbling an advantage call, allowing play to continue. Tibbling took a few more touches into space before smashing a shot from outside the box into the bottom left corner of the goal.
37’: JP Marin's well-placed corner kick was met by the head of Luca Dahn in the middle of the box to double the Pirates' lead. Dahn utilized all 6'4" of his frame to leap over FDU's defenders and smash a powerful header beyond the goalkeeper's reach.
Breakdown
In an all-Seton Hall first half, JP Marin was the central creative hub for both of the Pirates' goals. His assists on both goals were his first points of the season and the second time he recorded two assists in one game.
Tibbling's goal brought his tally for the season up to two and was his 10th career goal for Seton Hall. After spending most of the 2019 season out due to injury, the Swedish striker looked like he was slowly returning to the prolific goal-scoring form he had his freshman season for the Pirates.
At halftime, it was clear that Seton Hall was in complete control of the game. They spread the ball around the offensive half, kept possession well and created a fair number of chances.
The Pirates had five shots on target from eight attempted in the first half, but Fairleigh Dickinson goalkeeper Isac Hjerten made a couple good saves to prevent the Pirates fromextending their two-goal lead. The Knights were held to just one shot in the first half.
It was a rather uneventful second half with no real scoring opportunities for either team. In fact, neither team registered a single shot on goal. After about 10 minutes, it was clear that the Pirates wanted to maintain possession and see out their win and a clean sheet.
The Pirates were dominant tonight. From the first whistle, they controlled the pace of the game and never allowed the Knights to gain any real momentum. Andreas Nota and Hannes Ronnholmen split time in net for this game, but the clean sheet meant Seton Hall went back-to-back games without conceding a goal for the first time since 2010.
Seton Hall’s 2-0 win sees their record improve to 2-0-1. This was the last game before conference play starts, as the Pirates will face off at home against St. Johns on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Thomas Cugno can be reached at thomas.cugno@student.shu.edu.
