The Pirates took to Xavier’s Corcoran Field on Saturday, Oct. 26 in their second-to-last Big East game of the season.
With their win over the Musketeers, the Pirates break even in conference play (3-3-1) and lock in playoff contention for the Big East Tournament. The Pirates opened the bout, guns blazing, with two shots in the fifth minute from freshman Til Kauschke and junior Hugo Gerbore.
The Musketeers found an opening at 12 minutes of play, but Michael Rogalski’s shot soared just over the top iron. The next 10 minutes saw some physicality between Seton Hall and Xavier, broken up with yet another shot from Rogalski at 24 minutes, rejected by Pirate keeper Matias Molina.
The Musketeers followed up with an additional attempt on Pirate netting from Nathan Trickett, met with a resounding block from Molina. The Pirate offense responded with a shot by junior Konstantin Donalies, which was diverted by Xavier’s defense.
A Musketeer handball in the late first half proved to be fatal, as Kauschke scored the first and only goal of the game off the ensuing penalty kick. The Musketeers would not be able to bite back in the first half, despite a shot attempt from Matthew Senanou that flew off target.
Both offensives came to a halt in the early first, with Seton Hall breaking up the silence with a shot from senior Mans Saebbo blocked by the defense. Molina recorded a save against Xavier’s Eli Dulle in the 68th minute of play.
Junior Agustin Resch was just shy of notching another point onto the Pirate lead, with a close call for the Xavier defense off of a corner kick set up from Virgil Dal’Agnol.
In the final 10 minutes of the game, Xavier's offense surged with two unsuccessful shot attempts from Bernal de la Garza and Senanou respectively. The Pirate defense was placed under pressure with three Musketeer corner kicks leading to a shot from George Waites, and a header from Senanou.
Molina recorded a key save against Senanou in the 88th minute of play, keeping Xavier scoreless in the contest and giving the win to Seton Hall. This was the Pirate's third victory in the Big East competition, and they are currently 10-5-1 overall.
Seton Hall will play their final regular season game against the Villanova Wildcats at Owen T. Carroll Field on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. The Pirates look to gain some momentum going into the postseason and are sitting at .500 in Big East play.
Christian Hui is a writer for The Setonian’s Sports Section. He can be reached at christian.hui@student.shu.edu.
