Amid a two-game skid from losses against No. 11 Georgetown and Creighton, the 5-8-2 Seton Hall women’s soccer team tried to right the ship against the 3-10-0 DePaul Blue Demons.
The Blue Demons sought to protect their home field against the Pirates after six straight losses to start Big East play. It looked to be a golden opportunity for Seton Hall to get their second conference victory since posting a 1-6 start against the Big East.
Once DePaul’s senior day celebrations wrapped up, the match kicked off with some high intensity offensive pressure from both sides. The Blue Demons were the first to break through, however, as a Pirate handball inside the six-yard box in the 17th minute awarded DePaul a penalty kick that Katie Godden nailed past keeper Grace Gordon.
The half continued with offensive pushes from the Pirates but nothing came to fruition before the halftime whistle sounded and the first 45 minutes concluded. The Demons nearly doubled the Pirates’ total shots in the first half 11-6, which could have been worse had Gordon not stopped 5 of the 6 on-target shots.
At the start of the second half, the Pirate offensive output increased, as they put on 8 shots with 4 being on target. However, they just could not find the back of the net despite their best efforts.
With time starting to run short for the Pirates to mount a comeback, DePaul ended up putting the match pretty much out of reach with a 79th minute goal from Susie Soderstrom.
The Pirate push persisted until the final minutes of the match, but DePaul keeper Mollie Eriksson earned her second shutout of the season with her seven-save performance.
Gordon made seven saves on 18 shots throughout the course of the match, good for her fourth-most this season and keeping her goals against average at 1.03 for the year. She leads the Big East in saves and is third in saves per game.
Sophomore Natalie Tavana provided much of the offensive output for Seton Hall, as her four shots not only was a team-high for the match, but was her most on the season. The Connecticut native has been an offensive nightmare for the Big East since her arrival to the program last year.
After the loss, the Pirates find themselves in last place in the conference. Sitting 7 points behind the final spot to make the conference tournament with two games remaining on the schedule, it is looking unlikely that the Pirates will make a postseason push.
Their next game will be their Senior Day on Thursday at Owen T. Carroll Field at 2 p.m.
