The Seton Hall men’s soccer team earned their third win of the season after a golden goal winner in extra time against NJIT on Friday.
NJIT came out of the gates aggressive, shooting twice on goal in the first five minutes of play. However, it was the Pirates that struck first. Sophomore Raz Amir scored in the 12th minute, marking his first goal of the season. His goal came off an assist from junior Johannes Pex, who found Amir in stride to bring the Pirates up 1-0.
It was a lot of back and forth between the Highlanders and the Pirates until NJIT was able to tie the game at 1-1. At the 30-minute mark, Jose Encandon threaded the needle to Regsan Watkins who beat goalie Andreas Nota for the score. The game would stay tied through halftime, with both teams trying to find their way to a lead.
Andreas Nota would find his first save of the game at the beginning of the second half. Later in the half, Pex provided his second assist of the game, finding sophomore Mans Saebbo with a cross in the 77th minute.
NJIT did not waste any time after Saebbo’s goal, though, and marked the beginning of a crazy two minutes of play after Rene White found the back of the net for NJIT off a corner kick in the 78th minute. Just 16 seconds later, though, Seton Hall would surge down the field where senior JP Marin found Jordan Jowers for his first goal as a Pirate. In the 78th minute, Watkins tied the game at three off an assist from Justin Aguirre-Rosas and would give Watkins his second goal of the match.
Moving into extra time, the Pirates found the winner after just five minutes. Pex served up his third assist of the game to set Mattia Cella up for the game-winner and his first goal in a Seton Hall jersey.
Seton Hall's 4-3 win over NJIT improved their record to 3-0-2 on the season. The Hall outshot NJIT 18-14 and gave six different Pirates a point, with Pex leading the team with eight after his three assists on the night. Seton Hall returns to the pitch on Tuesday, Sept. 14 to take on Army in West Point, NY at 6 p.m.
Thomas Donnelly can be reached at thomas.donnelly@student.shu.edu.
