NEWARK, N.J. On Seton Hall’s Senior Day, it was sophomore Eliseo Giusfredi (Paterson, N.J.) who led the Pirates to a 2-0 win over Pittsburgh in men’s soccer action at Lubetkin Field on Saturday afternoon. Giusfredi assisted on the game-winning goal by senior David Roman (Monroeville, N.J.) and added the game-clincher to help SHU close out the regular-season with a 9-7-1 record and move to 7-4-0 in BIG EAST play.
Giusfredi pressured the Pittsburgh defense from the start and generated the first good scoring chance of the day in the 22nd minute. He took a through pass from senior Teddy Niziolek (Clifton, N.J.) and got into the box and put his shot to the top right corner, but it glanced off the corner post. He had a second-chance on the ball when the rebound came back, but sent his attempt over the open net.
The Pirates gained their redemption at the 39-minute mark on a corner kick. Giusfredi sent a ball to the top of the box, which was headed in front by Niziolek to the feet of Roman. The midfielder collected the ball at point-blank range and blasted home his third goal of the year for a 1-0 lead.
Seton Hall clung to the one-goal lead for much of the second half, but Pittsburgh had a few chances to equalize. In the 62nd minute, Tyler Bastianelli sent a screamer to the far post from 25 yards out, but it deflected off the post. In the 87th minute, Matt Baker got a cross in front of the net, but his header from close range went right to senior Ian Joyce (Kinnelon, N.J.). Giusfredi finished off the Panthers with less than a minute to play when he sent a shot to the upper corner past the Pitt keeper. Senior Gordon Kljestan (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Christos Zisimatos (Manhasset, N.Y.) assisted on the play.
Senior Peter Eckendorf (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) started for the Pirates in goal and combined with Joyce to post the Pirates’ first shutout since Sept. 17 at Villanova. A strong defensive effort from Kljestan, Zisimatos and seniors Matt Gilbert (Parsippany, N.J.) and Glenn Costa (Kearney, N.J.) helped SHU limit Pitt to just seven shots on the day. Pittsburgh’s Tex Jorgenson faced 21 shots from the Pirates’ offense and made eight saves.
Seton Hall clinched a fifth-place finish in the BIG EAST Blue Division and will face the fourth-place finisher in the Red Division, which will be determined after Saturday’s games. The BIG EAST First Round match will be on Wednesday, Oct. 25, site and time to be determined.
SCORING SUMMARY
1 2 F
Pittsburgh (5-10-2, 4-5-1) 0 0 -- 0
Seton Hall (9-7-1, 7-4-0) 1 1 -- 2
39:00 SHU D. Roman (3) (T. Niziolek, E. Giusfredi)
89:07 SHU E. Giusfredi (9) (G. Kljestan, C. Zisimatos)
STAT SUMMARY
Shots: SHU 21; Pitt 7.
Corner Kicks: SHU 5; Pitt 4
Saves: SHU 3 (Eckendorf 1, Joyce 1, Team 1); Pitt 8 (Jorgenson 8).
Offsides: SHU 2; Pitt 1.
