Men's Soccer Falls To Providence, 1-0

NEWARK, N.J. A goal by Providence’s Alex Bury midway through the first half stood up in a 1-0 win over the Seton Hall men’s soccer team on Wednesday afternoon at Lubetkin Field. With the win, PC moved to 7-3-0 in BIG EAST play and will host at least a first round match in the league championship, while the loss dropped SHU to 6-4-0 and means the Pirates will have to travel for the first round of the postseason tournament.

From the outset Seton Hall pressed the attack and got behind Providence’s defense for some early chances, but a couple shots wide of goal and a few saves by PC’s Chris Konopka kept the score level. The Friars scored the lone goal in the 22^nd minute when the Pirates failed to clear a corner kick and Michael Narciso slipped a pass to Bury who sent a shot into the upper right corner from 25 yards out for the game-winner.

With a goal in hand, the Friars sat back defensively in the second half and the Pirates were unable to capitalize despite holding an overwhelming, 13-0, advantage in shots in the period. SHU’s first clear chance came in the 51^st minute when senior Teddy Niziolek (Clifton, N.J.) weaved his way through traffic in the box and put a shot to the near post that glanced off Konopka and then off the post before being cleared. Just over a minute later, Niziolek sprung sophomore Eliseo Giusfredi (Paterson, N.J.) free with a long through ball. Giusfredi picked it up and dribbled around a sprawling Konopka and faced a clear net, but he failed to get much on his shot and a sliding PC defender cleared the attempt.

The Pirates continued to generate the chances, but were done in by a couple of saves by the crossbar at Lubetkin Field. In the 69^th minute, senior John Raus (Stamford, Conn.) sent a volley through traffic from 20 yards that sprayed off the crossbar and then in the 86^th minute senior Gordon Kljestan (Huntington Beach, Calif.) caught everyone off guard with a quick shot from almost 25 yards, but again it caught the bar and was cleared. In the waning minutes, Giusfredi drew a foul just outside the PC box in a dangerous spot, but the ensuing shot was sent high.

Konopka made four saves for PC, while Paul McHenry (Ephrata, Pa.) did not make any saves for SHU. Senior Matt Gilbert (Parsippany, N.J.) cleared PC’s only other attempt on goal in the first half, when McHenry was caught out of net and a flicked header was headed towards the net, but Gilbert cleared it.

Seton Hall closes out its home season with Senior Day on Saturday, Oct. 21, against Pittsburgh at 1:00 p.m. on Lubetkin Field in Newark, N.J.

SCORING SUMMARY

                                                        1      2      F

Providence (11-4-0, 7-3-0)                1      0 -- 1

Seton Hall (8-7-1, 6-4-0)            0      0 -- 0

21:14                  PC              A. Bury (5) (M. Narciso)

STAT SUMMARY

Shots:  SHU 19; PC 4..      

Corner Kicks:  SHU 6; PC 5..          

Saves:  SHU 1 (McHenry 1); PC 5 (Konopka 4, Team 1).

Offsides: SHU 1; PC 2.