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Daniel Ariza (9) was fired up after scoring game's first goal in the 10th minute to give Seton Hall Prep a 1-0 lead in Essex County Tournament final Saturday at Allen 'Jake' Jacobson Memorial Field in Livingston, although the Gray Bees would score four straight goals to win, 4-1. In middle photo Pirates' Bernardo Tinajero battles vs. St. Benedict's as action was intense. In bottom photo the Pirates' Graham Anderson (14) defends the Gray Bees' Raymond Diouf. (Photos by PJ Candido/SHP)
As expected, the No. 1 ranked team in the country and in the state of New Jersey prevailed; however, perennial title contender Seton Hall Prep gave a solid showing for itself vs. mighty St. Benedict's in the 50th annual Essex County Tournament championship game on Saturday afternoon at Allen ‘Jake’ Jacobson Memorial Field in Livingston. The sixth-seeded Pirates (12-5-1), who were also 4-time defending champions, made their 10th straight appearance in an ECT final and jumped out to a 1-0 lead before the multi-talented Gray Bees scored four straight goals to come away with a 4-1 triumph for their seventh ECT title, but first since 2005 which had been the last time the Newark prep school had appeared in the longtime countywide soccer event. St. Benedict’s (15-0) had last met SHP in an ECT final in 2001 also winning that match, 3-1. Daniel Ariza scored with assists from fellow seniors Benjamin Mills and Daniel Dashkevich in the 10th minute to raise the hopes of the Pirate faithful and provide SHP with an early 1-0 lead. However, St. Benedict’s would eventually respond, first on a penalty kick converted by Amadou Hann in the 34th minute and followed shortly after by another goal from Hann after he received a long pass from Gianni Rosario to make it 2-1 Gray Bees in the 37th minute. St. Benedict’s would increase its lead on a goal from Raymond Diouf in the 55th minute and Rosario in the 63rd minute, both coming after scrambles in the 18-yard area following corner kicks. SHP junior goalkeeper Michael Klimas had five saves, while St. Benedict’s Victor LaRocca had one. The Gray Bees outshot the Pirates, 9-2. Despite the defeat, 39th-year SHP coach Marty Berman was very pleased with his team’s performance. “I couldn’t be more proud of our team,” he said afterwards. “We fought hard from the beginning to the end.” Now it‘s on to the NJSIAA Non-Public, North A state tournament which seeds its field on Wednesday (Oct. 30). *** In looking back on the 2024 ECT, it was a monumental season for the popular event which was in its 50th anniversary year. Also, despite its defeat to a national power in this year’s final, SHP has ruled the latter stages of the event for several years. The No. 6 seed was an unusual position to start out from for the Pirates, who are not accustomed to being seeded below the top two or three seeds, at least since the program took off with the past two decades of supreme success in the tournament. “When I took over as head coach in 1986, we had our struggles and I wondered if we’d ever win the ECT, and it was certainly our ambition to do so, but we didn’t reach a final until 2001 against St. Benedict’s, or win our first championship until eight years after that,” Berman recalled. “It’s hard to believe it’s now the 50th ECT because I remember covering it as a reporter (for The Star-Ledger) back in 1978, including the final that season between East Side and Vailsburg. “I graduated high school (Columbia) in 1970 so I never had the opportunity to play in the ECT (which started in 1974), but it’s always been a great tournament to be around, either all the years covering it, or in the past four decades coaching in it. “We’ve seen a lot of great players and terrific coaches be a part of the ECT, that’s for sure!” Along with the few veteran coaches in the county who are still active, such as Berman, Livingston’s Roger Rubinetti, Verona’s Jack Weber, who was best known as the longtime coach at Montclair, and West Orange’s Doug Nevins, who played for Berman at SHP, there are other memorable coaches in Essex soccer circles to recall as the 50th ECT is now over. Berman’s high school coach, the late Gene Chyzowych, won 757 games in 50 years as Columbia’s head coach for a Cougars team that has captured a record 13 ECT titles, but none since sharing back-to-back championships with Weber’s Mounties in 1997 and ’98. St. Benedict’s, which had a run in the late 1980s and early ‘90s under former coach Rick Jacobs, won five ECT titles during a 6-year span from 1987-1992. Follow Sideline Chatter on 'X' @Chattermeister 50 Essex County Boys Soccer Tournament Finals: Most Titles: Consecutive Titles: Most Final Appearances: Most Consecutive Finals:
Seton Hall Prep players, from left, William Frank (5), Jack Bigley (21) Xavier Levy (2, on ground) and Bernardo Tinajero are involved in the action vs. St. Benedict's in Saturday's Essex County Tournament final. Copyright 2005 Sideline Chatter - comments - contact the webmaster
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