Players Mentioned
Women's Soccer Spring Update
3/25/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall University women’s soccer team kicked off its 2013 spring scrimmage season with a 3-1 comeback win over Fairfield on Friday night at the Orangetown Soccer Complex in Orangeburg, N.Y.
The Pirates found themselves facing a 1-0 deficit after the first half before the offense revved up and Seton Hall scored three times over a span of 14 minutes in the second period.
“For our first scrimmage of the year I thought it was very good start for us,” head women’s soccer coach Kazbek Tambi said.” It did take us probably a good half of play to really get settled in but by the second half we really started to click and got into a great passing rhythm, applied good pressure and created a bunch of scoring chances resulting in three goals.”
The equalizer came off the foot of freshman Alexis Urbanski (Aberdeen, N.J.) in the 64th minute. Junior Meghan Hayes (Fredon, N.J.) made the initial pass up to Urbanski who received the ball and turned to fire a solid left-footed shot from 22-yards out into the roof of the net.
Just four minutes later Hayes worked again to set up a Seton Hall goal, this time connecting with junior Katie Ritter (Hagerstown, Md.) for a breakaway score. Ritter received a long service from Hayes near midfield and made quick work of a Fairfield defender to create a one on one scoring chance down the left side. She closed on net and fired past the goalkeeper to the far side to give the Pirates their first lead of the game.
Freshman Christie Cherup (Wayne, N.J.) took advantage of a Fairfield defensive miscue to provide Seton Hall with its insurance score in the 77th minute. Junior Ashley Clarke (Paramus, N.J.) assisted on the play, making the initial service up to Cherup in the six-yard box. Fairfield tried and failed to clear the pass out of harm’s way and Cherup was there to take advantage of the mistake, firing a left-footed shot from eight yards away to give Seton Hall a two-goal cushion.
After the game Tambi said it was important for the Pirates to work on applying the same intensity that resulted in three second half goals early in the game to avoid facing a late deficit.
“We need to come out very strong and compete and make life difficult for our opponents right off the opening whistle,” Tambi said. “We need to try to find our passing rhythm in the first half before waiting for the second half to try and put it together.”
Freshman Gina Maiorana (Street, Md.) and senior Jennifer Pettigrew (Kearny, N.J.) split time in net, with Maiorana taking the first half and Pettigrew playing the final 45 minutes. It was the first competitive action of the year for Pettigrew, who missed all of last season while recovering from an offseason injury.
“Jen was really excited about the opportunity to be out on the field after being out for a year,” Tambi said. “She played some basically flawless goalkeeping and kept the net clean so I think it was a really good start for her.”
Seton Hall will continue its spring season on Saturday, April 13, when it will travel to Princeton, N.J., for a pair of abbreviated scrimmages with Princeton University and Stony Brook.
