St. John’s soccer falls to Georgetown in regular season finale

The St. John’s soccer team fell to the Georgetown Hoyas in their regular season finale.

The St. John’s soccer team lost their regular season finale to the Georgetown Hoyas by a score of 1-0 on Saturday at Belson Stadium.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, Saturday was the first game for the Red Storm in three weeks as its last game was a 1-0 road win against UConn coming back on March 20.

The Red Storm shuffled its lineup quite a bit as plenty of starters sat out of the game with St. John’s mathematically eliminated from the postseason. However, the Hoyas had more or less of its starting lineup in for the game.

Georgetown dominated the possession in the game, limiting the opportunities St. John’s had to go forward.

The Hoyas had opportunities to open up the scoring with the biggest coming early on through forward Derek Dodson as he was slipped in with a through pass into the box, but his shot was blocked by Sanoussi Sangary, who played at center back in this game despite normally playing as an outside back for the Red Storm.

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Georgetown would get the only goal of the game in the 39th minute when Dodson was taken down by Red Storm defender Jack Russo at the edge of the penalty box.

The Hoyas caught St. John’s sleeping, taking the free kick quickly as Dodson found midfielder Dante Polvara and he would notch his team leading seventh goal on the season with a shot from inside the box.

The Johnnies had a more possession in the second half and would have more opportunities as in the 68th minute the Red Storm had a great chance to equalize through leading scorer Tani Oluwaseyi.

The junior midfielder was played into the box by Redshirt senior Matt Forester and instead of shooting it, Oluwaseyi would send a pass across the face of goal looking for a wide open Wesley Leggett at the back post but the pass was just too strong.

Then, in the 83rd minute the Red Storm would have their best opportunity to equalize as Leggett drew a penalty. Forester would step up to take the penalty, but it was saved by Giannis Nikopolidis.

The loss capped off the 2021 spring season for the Red Storm as the Johnnies end the year with a with a 5-5 (3-5 Big East) record, while Georgetown finishes the regular season with a 7-0-2 record and 1st place in the East Division.

The Hoyas will now gear up for the Big East Tournament and a semifinal matchup against Creighton.

Recap of St. John’s soccer season

Looking back on the St. John’s soccer season, it was a disappointing year for the Red Storm who were expected to compete for a National Title.

The Johnnies were ranked as high as No. 17 in various  preseason polls but ultimately finish at .500 and miss out on the Big East Tournament.

COVID-19 and its various pauses was a huge factor in this season as it never really felt like the Red Storm could get a rhythm but it is nevertheless a disappointing season for a team who returned most of its core which went to the NCAA Tournament one year prior.

St. John’s finished 4th in the East Division in the Big East Conference in this spring season.

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Saturday’s game did give a look into the Red Storm’s future as freshman Nicolas Chateau and Conlan Palventi in particular got some of their first game action of the season.

Chateau saw 26 minutes of playing time and impressed as his speed and crisp runs annoyed the Georgetown backline in the second half.

Palventi was only given six minutes of action, he should be an interesting prospect for years to come as he scored an extremely impressive, and school record, 45 goals and nine assists as a senior at South Hunderdon High School in New Jersey.

It’ll be a quick turnaround as the next time the Red Storm take the field will be in the fall as they look to get back to a normal schedule.