St. John’s soccer draws with Columbia in six goal thriller

St. John’s soccer drew with  Columbia in a six-goal thriller at Belson Stadium. 

Last Friday, the St. John’s soccer program came back home after a successful trip to Philadelphia in the form of a 5-0 win over St. Joseph’s to take on Columbia.

The Lions entered Belson Stadium for its first game of the season and Columbia started out with a bang as forward Ally Clark finished off a pass from fellow striker Nata Ramirez to jump out to an early 1-0 lead in just the sixth minute of the game.

It would not be long before the Red Storm tied the match as Zsani Kajan would draw a foul inside the box and fire home the penalty kick to make it a 1-1 scoreline just four minutes after the opening goal.

The game remained with that scoreline until the second half when Columbia took back the lead in the 57th minute through Ramirez who finished off a pass from Clark.

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Then, it was once again Kajan who would score to tie the game just two minutes later with a fantastic shot from outside the box that curled into the top-left hand corner of the goal.

The graduate student superstar has been on an absolute tear to start the season bringing her goal tally to seven goals in just three games with her two strikes on Friday.

The Preseason Big East Offensive Player of the Year is living up to the hype yet again and now sits on 35 career goals with the Red Storm, just three away from the No. 3 spot on the program’s all-time scoring list.

St. John’s soccer still in midst of high-powered battle

However, Columbia would yet again take the lead in the 69th minute as forward Madi Pilla converted a penalty kick.

Staring at defeat for the first time this season, the Red Storm would dig deep late on and tie the game for the third time through sophomore forward Nicole Gordon as she headed home a cross from Frederique St.-Jean in the 85th minute.

The game would go into extra time but after two 10-minute periods, neither side could find a breakthrough and the match ended in a 3-3 draw.

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It was the first tie of the season for the Red Storm as they move to 2-0-1 after three games.

Next, the St. John’s will take on Lehigh at Belson Stadium on Thursday at 7:00pm EST.