Seton Hall University
St. John's
Pirates Fall to St. John's in Season Finale
11/8/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 8, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's soccer team fell in its final game of the 2013 campaign on Friday afternoon, dropping a 5-0 decision to visiting St. John's.
The result completes the Pirates' (7-9-2, 3-6-0 BIG EAST) second season under head coach Gerson Echeverry and with seven wins overall, the team finishes the year with its highest win total since 2007.
In what was a matchup of two sides vying for postseason position on the final day of the 2013 regular season, the opening quarter-hour of action saw limited chances as each squad remained compact in its defensive third. The Hall narrowly missed an opportunity to move ahead in the 18th minute when shortly after a corner from Victor Manosalvas (Clifton, N.J.), the ball found its way to freshman Shawn Morrison (York, Pa.) who unleashed a long-range rocket that left St. John's standout keeper Rafael Diaz no chance but rang back off the crossbar. Senior George Velasquez (Union City, N.J.) was first on the scene for the rebound and after controlling with his first touch, sent a shot towards net that appeared to be earmarked for his fifth goal of the season but Diaz turned the strike away with an acrobatic save that kept the game scoreless.
Both attacks were bogged down in the midfield for most of the next 20 minutes, with the most significant development being a yellow card issued to Morrison in the 35th minute for what was determined to be a handball deep in the Seton Hall end.
Three minutes later, midfield maestro Samuel Geiler (Offenburg, Germany) nearly connected with Max Garcia (Jersey City, N.J.) for a bit of magic that nearly moved the home side ahead for the second time in the half. On the ball and streaking down the left wing, Geiler picked out Garcia with a cross and the senior's header beat Diaz but was denied by the post.
Geiler kept the Pirates on the front foot, testing Diaz himself in the 42nd minute and forced a defender to turn away another shot soon after, but an opportunistic strike from SJU's Tim Parker just before the half put the Red Storm on top for good. With less than 90 seconds remaining before the break, Parker pounced on a loose ball in the SHU area and sent it into the back of the net for his first goal of the year and the eventual game-winner.
Two minutes after the restart, Danny Bedoya of St. John's was pulled down in the box and stepped up to the spot and doubled the Red Storm advantage.
A straight red card on Mateusz Brela (Kielce, Poland) for an aggressive tackle in the 59th minute and a second yellow on Morrison 70 ticks later forced the Pirates to play the final half-hour down two men.
St. John's (10-6-2, 3-4-2 BIG EAST) made full use of the advantage, adding three goals to seal their third BIG EAST victory of the season.
The Pirates made significant strides offensively in year two under Echeverry, posting the program's highest goal total since 2008 and more than doubling their assists from a year ago.
Prior to the game, Garcia and Velasquez were joined by fellow seniors Christian Battistesa (South Bound Brook, N.J.) Kevin Bonder (Whippany, N.J.), Chris Garcia (Rutherford, N.J.), John Gurel (Istanbul, Turkey) and Kevin Matthews (Ambler, Pa.) in being honored for their contributions to the program over their careers.
