Seton Hall University
Syracuse
MSOC Streak Halted at Syracuse
9/23/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
The Pirates had a two-game winning streak heading into Saturday night's contest and junior forward Max Garcia (Jersey City, N.J.) had scored a goal in three-straight games, but the Orange defense limited Seton Hall's leading scorer to just one shot on net.
The only goal of the game came off the head of Syracuse freshman Jordan Vale, as he finished a crossing pass off a corner kick from Ted Cribley in the 26th minute. The score came at the end of a series of three Syracuse corners over a span of just 2:35, with the Orange finally capitalizing on the third attempt.
The Pirates has just one shot on goal in the opening half but fired five on net in the second period, with three of those attempts coming over the final 25 minutes of action. Sophomore Kai Greene (South Orange, N.J.) led Seton Hall with two shots on goal, one in each half.
Junior George Velasquez (Union City, N.J.) subbed back into the game with just over eight minutes to play and made an impact in Seton Hall's final push to tie the game and force overtime. He handled a corner kick with under 90 seconds remaining and sent SHU's final shot on net with only 45 ticks left on the clock, but Syracuse's Andrew Coughlin was there to make the save.
Syracuse attempted 20 shots in the game, sending 15 on net. Kuzan made four saves in the first half and another 10 in the second to set a career-high of 14 stops. It is the second game in a row that Kuzan turned away a career-high number of shots. He made 13 saves in the Pirates' 2-1 win at Delaware on Wednesday night and has tallied an astonishing 27 saves over the last two games.
Seton Hall is now 15-5-3 all-time against Syracuse and the Pirates fall to 13-13-2 all-time in BIG EAST opening matches.
Seton Hall (4-5, 0-1) will have 10 days off before returning to action for a pair of BIG EAST home matches. The Pirates will host Providence College on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m., and Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
