Pirates Handle Bloomfield, 3-1, in Preseason Finale
8/27/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug 27, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall University men's soccer team wrapped up the preseason with a decisive 3-1 victory in an exhibition matchup with Bloomfield College on Tuesday night at Owen T. Carroll Field in South Orange, N.J.
The Pirates scored twice in the opening half and tacked on an insurance goal in the 70th minute to put the game out of reach for good.
Seton Hall implemented a steady offensive attack to start the game and saw several strong scoring looks before finally breaking through with the first goal of the game just over eight minutes into the action.
In the third minute, sophomore Eric Lagg (Lafayette, N.J.) played a ball in from the right side to junior Konrad Plewa (Maniowy, Poland), who sidestepped a defender only to see his shot attempt deflected away. Just two minutes later it was freshman Samuel Geiler (Offenberg, Germany) narrowly missing the back of the net. Plewa passed it out to Geiler on the left side and he launched a rocket toward the top right corner, barely sending it over the cross bar.
The Pirates' first goal came off a set piece 25-yards out from the net, the first of two scores off restarts in the game. Redshirt- junior Victor Manosalvas (Clifton, N.J.) sent a cross into the area that Plewa headed out to the far post for Lagg to easily clean up and send into an empty net. It was Lagg's second score of the preseason, after he provided the game-winner against TCNJ last Friday.
Just seven minutes later Seton Hall struck again, and as was the case on the first goal it was Manosalvas getting things started. He played a ball from the middle of the box out to Plewa on the right side. Plewa cleanly handled the pass and sent a crisp cross through the area to Geiler at the far post for an easy strike.
The Pirates generated several more impressive offensive chances later in the half. Off a corner Geiler sent a beautiful cross into junior Mateusz Brela (Kielce, Poland) at the far post only to see his line drive header sail mere inches over the cross bar. Junior Christian Battistesa (Bound Brook, N.J.) was aggressive on the offensive end to close out the period, as he was denied on a line drive shot in the 39th minute and narrowly missed a chance to score once again three and half minutes later, seeing a low shot deflected out of play.
Seton Hall controlled the final 25 minutes of action in the second half and that pressure finally paid off with 20:36 left in the game. Following a Bloomfield foul just a few feet outside of the top right corner of the box, redshirt-freshman Danny Bartok (Union, N.J.) centered a free kick toward the net. Brela managed to head the ball laterally to junior Jason Wellington (West Palm Beach, Fla.) at the far post, and he buried the ball in the back of the net.
Brela and Bartok nearly combined for a score again with just over 10 minutes remaining. This time Brela was the facilitator, sending a pass out to Bartok on the left side of the box, only to see his precision strike stymied with a diving save by the Bloomfield keeper.
Seton Hall will open its 2013 regular season schedule at home on Friday, Aug. 30, when it welcomes the University of Rhode Island to Owen T. Carroll Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
