St. John’s soccer gets commanding win over Lehigh

The St. John’s soccer team continued its unbeaten start to the season with a commanding win over Lehigh. 

On a Thursday night at Belson Stadium the St. John’s soccer program used a second-half burst to clinch a commanding win over the visiting Lehigh Mountain Hawks by a scoreline of 4-0.

Early, St. John’s dominated the play but its final pass was lacking causing the Johnnies to miss some scoring opportunities.

The Red Storm improved as the half went on, pinning Lehigh back into its own half for a majority of the opening stanza.

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St. John’s was finally rewarded with the opening goal in the 38th minute as senior midfielder Michelle Money took advantage of Lehigh’s inability to clear the cross from Kayla Mesaros and fired a shot to the back post to send the Red Storm into halftime with the 1-0 lead.

The goal was Money’s first career goal as a Johnnie.

Lehigh had some opportunities, forcing Naya Lipkens into two saves but nothing serious threatened the Red Storm goal.

St. John’s soccer opens things up in the second half

Entering the second half the one goal lead certainly did not reflect the Red Storm’s dominance in terms of possession and the flow of the game.

St. John’s rectified that by scoring three goals in the second half as Brooke Boyd tapped the ball home in the midst of a huge scramble in the box on a free-kick to make it 2-0 in the 51st minute.

The goal was the first of the season for the senior defender.

The Red Storm kept on pressing forward as Zsani Kajan would just miss the outside corner on a curling shot from inside the box as she looked to bend it around the goalkeeper.

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St. John’s would tack on two more goals and capitalize on its chances in the 87th minute as Maia Cabrera pounced on a rebound as Lehigh goalie Violett Bonvallet could not hold on for the save to make it 3-0.

Then, with under a minute to go, Ava Collins would produce a great volley into the top corner as Bonvallet could not get a strong enough hand to the shot to keep it out.

It was a commanding win for the Red Storm despite the fact that star striker Zsani Kajan did not get on the scoresheet for the first time this season, showing the potential scoring depth that this team has.

The win extends St. John’s unbeaten start to the season with its record now sitting at 3-0-1.

The Red Storm will now head out for a two-game road trip, first taking on Havard on Sunday at 1:00pm EST on ESPN+ and then taking on the University of Delaware next Thursday at 7:00pm EST on Flo Sports.