Seton Hall University
Monmouth
Men's Soccer Upsets No. 19 Monmouth
9/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
The Hawks came into Friday night's match with a 4-0-1 record, but fell behind early and were never able to recover from the Pirates' blistering start to the game.
Seton Hall was facing its second ranked opponent over the last three games and the win over the Hawks was SHU's first over a top-25 foe this season. The Pirates snapped a three-game losing streak to the regional rival from West Long Branch, avenging a 3-0 loss last season.
It was also the first victory over a ranked team for first-year head coach Gerson Echeverry, who is now 1-1 in his career against top-25 opponents.
The bulk of Seton Hall's quality first half scoring chances came over the first 20 minutes of the action, and after a couple of near misses Garcia and junior George Velasquez (Union City, N.J.) hooked up for the eventual game-winner.
Velasquez, who was giving the Monmouth defense fits through the first half made another strong move down the left side, making his way all the way to the end line. Even though he was flanked by defenders he still sent a very crisp crossing pass to Garcia over on the right side, that he settled and hammered past Monmouth goalkeeper Alex Blackburn.
Garcia moved up to second in the BIG EAST with four goals and is also second in the conference with nine points. He leads the conference with 25 shot attempts this season.
Just moments before Garcia's score it was almost Velasquez tallying the first goal of the night, but his strong shot deflected off the right post. Velasquez charged through a pair of defenders and dialed up a powerful shot that hit the post before ricocheting out of play.
Seton Hall's first scoring chance of the night came in the 10th minute as sophomore Kai Greene (South Orange, N.J.), who was making crisp passes on set pieces all game, made another one, finding freshman defender Julian Kennedy (Nindorf, Germany) for a header that was saved by Blackburn.
Monmouth outshot Seton Hall, 5-4, in the opening half, but the Hawk offense did not feature the same number of quality chances generated by Seton Hall and SHU keeper Kevin Bonder (Whippany, N.J.) finished with one save in the period.
While Monmouth came out strong to start the second half the Seton Hall defense was up to the challenge each time. Finally in the 70th minute the Pirate offense orchestrated a pair of strong offensive plays in succession that nearly resulted in the team's second goal of the game.
Greene began the exciting sequence by making a great pass into the area from the left side that made its way over to sophomore Damian Bziukiewicz (East Rutherford, N.J.) whose powerful shot was saved but not controlled by Blackburn.
Just seconds later sophomore Jeremy Witherspoon (South Orange, N.J.) leaned down toward the loose ball sent a header towards the net and after a scramble along the goal line the ball rolled into the goal. However, the Pirates were whistled for being offside on the play, nullifying what at first seemed to be an important second score.
Monmouth's offense attacked feverishly over the final 10 minutes of the game as the Hawks searched desperately for the equalizer. Midfielder Ryan Clark executed a pair of long set pieces to forwards in the box, but never connected for a goal.
The best chance for Monmouth came in the 87th minute as Clark found Matt Jeffery with a long pass into the area for a header, but his attempt missed barely wide to the left.
As a result of the Monmouth charge the Hawks finished with a 14-7 advantage in shots, but only two of those attempts were on net and Bonder was there to save them both. The SHU goalkeeper turned in his first clean sheet of the season and the third of his career.
Seton Hall (3-4) will play its final warm-up before entering into BIG EAST play when it travels to Newark, Del., to face the University of Delaware Blue Hens on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m.
