By Shawn Fury<\/p>\n
As Natalie Tavana tallied clutch goal after clutch goal last season for the women\u2019s soccer team, Seton Hall\u2019s social media accounts gave her a nickname befitting someone who conjured up scores whenever the Pirates needed them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Magician gets number 9,\u201d read the team\u2019s Twitter feed when Tavana scored against St. John\u2019s in a September victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what they meant was some of my goals were incredibly unique,\u201d Tavana says with a laugh. \u201cI took my chances and some of the goals, I was like, that\u2019s not going in. And it ended up going in, which was crazy. I\u2019m also kind of creative in the attack. I try to bring as much as I can to jumble up the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her stats also came from dedication and hard work. All told, Tavana scored a conference-best 12 goals and notched two assists for 26 points, earning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honors. More importantly, her exploits spearheaded the finest Seton Hall season in a decade.
\nSeton Hall coach Josh Osit says of his star, \u201cShe\u2019s got tremendous power with both feet, and she\u2019s got a quick release. So if she has any space, it\u2019s very difficult to get in front of her to block a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Growing up, Tavana played against older kids and always believed she \u201chad to show my skills and prove to everyone, yeah, I\u2019m young but I can be as good as you can be. \u2026 I had to think of different ways to score and perfect my technique.\u201d<\/p>\n
After notching three goals during her sophomore season, Tavana opened her 2023 campaign with a goal in a 2\u20131 victory over Central Connecticut State, followed by a three-goal performance against Binghamton as she became the first Pirate to record a hat trick since 2006. Tavana added two more against Le Moyne and then came up big in the biggest of BIG EAST games. The rundown: the lone goal in the win over St. John\u2019s; the lone Pirates goal in a tie against Xavier; the lone SHU goal in a tie against No. 12 Georgetown; and finally, one of the goals in a 22 tie against Butler, a game that saw The Magician make a patented appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to shout out my Butler goal,\u201d Tavana says. \u201cI was facing the wrong way of the goal \u2026 and I was able to wrap my hips around it and hit it with my non-dominant foot, my left foot.\u201d
\nTavana praises teammates as effortlessly as she nets goals, noting how their work makes it easier for her to collect highlight-reel clips. \u201cShe\u2019s a really smart kid and she has worked really hard as an individual to receive a lot of accolades she got this year,\u201d Osit says. \u201cBut she also knows there\u2019s no way she would\u2019ve experienced the individual success that she had without her teammates. \u2026 I think there was a lot of mutual respect with Nat and her teammates because our work ethic as a program just grew so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Past Seton Hall players also appreciated Tavana\u2019s season, specifically the legendary Kelly Smith, who scored 76 goals during her career and made a video call to inform Tavana that she\u2019d won the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year honors, the first Pirate to earn the award since Smith in 1999.<\/p>\n
Now, as Tavana prepares for the 2024 season, she has her eyes set on more success for her team, which ended 2023 with a loss against Connecticut that kept the Pirates out of the conference playoffs. \u201cI\u2019m very excited to see the future of Seton Hall because we\u2019re going to be a different program and everyone\u2019s going to be looking at us differently next year,\u201d Tavana says. \u201cSo I\u2019m hungry to get out there for more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good news for Seton Hall. Bad news for BIG EAST foes.<\/p>\n
Shawn Fury is an author based in New York City.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Shawn Fury As Natalie Tavana tallied clutch goal after clutch goal last season for the women\u2019s soccer team, Seton Hall\u2019s social media accounts gave her a nickname befitting someone who conjured up scores whenever the Pirates needed them. \u201cThe Magician gets number 9,\u201d read the team\u2019s Twitter feed when Tavana scored against St. John\u2019s…<\/p>\n