Men's Soccer Season Preview
8/28/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Aug 28, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall University men's soccer team made tremendous strides during the 2012 season, but heading into 2013 the Pirates are eager to build on the foundation set last season and continue their quest to become one of the top tier teams in the BIG EAST Conference.
The greatest highlight from last year came when Seton Hall qualified to compete in the BIG EAST Tournament, marking the program's first postseason berth since 2007. That run unfortunately ended with a 3-1 loss at Villanova, but the overarching narrative clearly signaled that the Pirates are a team on the rise.
The regular season saw Seton Hall pick up a 1-0 victory over No. 19 Monmouth during non-conference play, in addition to commanding wins over conference foes Providence and Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh win represented the strongest offensive output for the Pirates in two seasons.
Making additional strides this season will not be easy as the revamped BIG EAST Conference figures to rank as one of the premier college soccer leagues in the nation. The 10-team league features five squads that qualified for the 2012 NCAA Tournament and a pair of teams in Georgetown and Creighton that advanced all the way to the College Cup; Georgetown fell to Indiana, 1-0, in the national championship game.
Adding in difficult non-conference tests against Drexel, another 2012 NCAA team, perennial regional power Monmouth, in addition to George Mason and Princeton, and Seton Hall will be forced to compete at an optimum level every time it takes the field.
"We are going to have our hands full," second year head men's soccer coach Gerson Echeverry said. "We have a schedule that will definitely prepare us for postseason play and that is our goal. Every team we play brings a different style of play and it's just a matter of us being able to adjust our game and be able to make the right changes and do the right things to help us win."
Seton Hall is well equipped to improve upon its success from a year ago as Echeverry welcomes back all 10 positional starters and 20 letterwinners overall for 2013. The Pirates' returnees bring with them all but one of the goals scored last season and all of the assists, a level of continuity which indicates increased production is a reasonable expectation.
"I think one of the things that it helps is that all of these guys know the expectations the coaching staff has of them," Echeverry said. "There were some new things we wanted to implement last season and most of these guys have been around us for over a year. But we also brought in some new players that we think bring a different aspect to our lineup."
 Max Garcia led Seton Hall with 18 points last season.  |  |
The top four scorers from last year will all be back in uniform, including seniors Max Garcia (Jersey City, N.J.) and George Velasquez (Union City, N.J.). Garcia led the team with seven goals and three assists for 18 points, tallying a pair of game winners, while Velasquez scored four times and notched three assists, with 10 of his 11 points coming in BIG EAST play. For his efforts against conference foes last year Velasquez was tabbed as a 2013 Preseason All-BIG EAST honoree.
Helping out on the front line will be senior John Gurel (Istanbul, Turkey), junior Andrew LoManto (Massepequa, N.Y.), sophomore Eric Lagg (Lafayette, N.J.), junior Jeremy Witherspoon (South Orange, N.J.) and redshirt freshman Danny Bartok (Union, N.J.). Gurel, LoManto and Lagg each had one goal last season and Bartok returns to the pitch after missing all of last season due to injury. Lagg developed into an emerging threat offensively last spring and has impressed already this preseason.
"Last year in the spring Eric Lagg was our leading scorer, Danny Bartok is very strong and capable of putting the ball in the net, as is John Gurel, and we obviously have our leading scorer Max Garcia who has helped us out in scoring some big goals," Echeverry said. "Overall I feel that our team is pretty balanced and we have some guys that are capable of giving us goals throughout the year."
In the midfield Echeverry is equipped with a number of versatile options including veteran contributors and promising newcomers. Junior Konrad Plewa (Maniowy, Poland) led the team with five assists in 2012, while senior Christian Battistesa (Bound Brook, N.J.) displayed an offensive flair after moving up from the back line, finishing with two goals and an assist.
Junior Bolu Akinyode (Lagos, Nigeria) saw action in 14 games last season, making 13 starts and senior Kevin Matthews (Ambler, Pa.) made 13 appearances and both will be relied on to contribute consistently again this season.
Redshirt-junior Victor Manosalvas (Clifton, N.J.) missed all of last season with an injury but returns healthy for 2013 and put his playmaking abilities on display several times already this preseason. Sophomore Lucas Della Ventura (Brookline, Mass.) saw action in one game during his freshman season.
Junior Alex Megna (Hales Corners, Wis.) transferred to the Hall from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he played his first two collegiate seasons. Echeverry has also added sophomore Max Moog (Newfoundland, N.J.), freshman Nick Coppola (Florham Park, N.J.), freshman Samuel Geiler (Offenberg, Germany) and freshman Shawn Morrison (York, Pa.) to the mix.
 Junior captain Mateusz Brela. | |
All four of Seton Hall's returning defensive starters saw action in at least 16 games last season, with junior captain Mateusz Brela (Kielce, Poland) and sophomore Julian Kennedy (Nindorf, Germany) starting all 18 games on the back line. Senior Chris Garcia (Rutherford, N.J.) will start on the outside, after starting 17 games last year and junior Kai Greene (South Orange, N.J.) finished 2012 on defense, swapping with Battistesa from the midfield halfway through the year.
Junior Jason Wellington (West Palm Beach, Fla.) started eight times in 17 appearances, logging more than 800 minutes on the field last year and freshman Juan Pinilla (Cliffside Park, N.J.) will also provide depth at the position.
The Pirates will feature four goalkeepers where a healthy competition for playing time has emerged during the preseason. Senior Kevin Bonder (Whippany, N.J.) started seven games and picked up three victories with a shutout last year. Junior Mario DeClerico (Maple Shade, N.J.) experienced an injury plagued sophomore season after making seven starts and posting a pair of shutouts as a freshman.
A pair of newcomers round out the position in freshman Julian Spindler (Weiersbach, Germany) and freshman Brandon Barnes (Cary, Ill.).
"Right now I would say it is a good battle to see who the No. 1 is," said Echeverry. "It is a day-to-day battle and we need to see which keeper starts to pull away."
This year only the top six teams in the conference will qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament, adding additional pressure to teams fighting for the chance to compete for the league championship. The top two teams will receive a bye to the semifinals with the third and fourth seeds hosting quarterfinal matchups.
"Fewer teams will be making the BIG EAST Tournament, so we need to be one of those six and ideally I would like for us to host a game," Echeverry said. "Last year we made the BIG EAST Tournament, which we hadn't done in a while, but our record didn't indicate that we were good enough and that needs to improve this year."
