St. John’s soccer falls to Yale in non-conference finale

St. John’s soccer falls to Yale as Big East play looms. 

The St. John’s soccer team headed to New Haven, Connecticut on Sunday looking to close out non-conference play on a high note, but instead the Red Storm lost to Yale by a score of 2-0.

This was the first game St. John’s played in ten days after their contest with Central Connecticut State was postponed last Sunday.

The last game for the Johnnies was a 3-0 win over Delaware on September 9th, which was head coach Ian Stone’s 250th career win.

The first half was a fairly evenly contested match as the shots were 5-3 at halftime in favor of Yale, but with both sides getting some opportunities on goal.

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St. John’s nearly took the lead in the 30th minute as Zsani Kajan connected with Jessica Garziano on a corner kick, but the junior midfielder’s header sailed just over the crossbar.

Yale would strike first right at the end of the first half as forward Mia Grillo fired a shot into the top corner and past Naya Lipkens to send the Bulldogs into the half with a lead.

In the second half, Yale started out on the front foot and eventually got a second goal from midfielder Chole Laureano with a direct free-kick strike in the 59th minute.

The Red Storm managed to get three shots on goal, but couldn’t get any in on the Bulldogs and suffered their second loss of the season.

St. John’s soccer must regain footing heading into conference play

St. John’s now moves to a 4-2-1 record on the season as Big East play looms this week. These next few games will be a big test for St. John’s if they want to contend in this conference and have a stellar season.

Last spring the Johnnies had a really good start to the year going 5-1 in their first six games, however, that middle portion of the schedule is where St. John’s fell apart as they finished with a 5-4-3 record (2-4-3, Big East).

The poor end to the season resulted in the Johnnies missing out on the Big East Tournament as they couldn’t find the consistency and offensive prowess they displayed early on.

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St. John’s has to get back in the win column on Thursday and generally get conference play off to a good start to avoid repeating the spring season and see yet another good start to a season fizzle out.

The Red Storm will get Big East play underway on the road against UConn on Thursday at 7:00pm EST on FloSports.

St. John’s were not a good road team in Spring 2021, but will look to change that this fall. The Johnnies will attempt to break a two-game losing streak to the Huskies, but will have to buck some historical trends to do so as they have only won once in Storrs, which came back in 2010.