St. John’s soccer loses third straight against Marquette

St. John’s soccer falls in Milwaukee in heartbreaking fashion after a spirited comeback

On Thursday night in Milwaukee, the St. John’s soccer team was looking to halt a two-game losing streak and get back on track in conference play against Marquette.

The Red Storm got off to a disastrous start to the game as the Golden Eagles quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead within the first 20 minutes of the game.

The goals came in from midfielders Rachel Johnson in the 9th minute and Madison Burrier in the 13th minute.

However, as the first half went on, the Johnnies would slowly work themselves back into the game.

St. John’s would cut the Marquette lead in half through Isabelle Aviza in the 23rd minute

The goal was the junior’s third of the season.

Just as St. John’s was getting some more chances on goal and pushing for an equalizer, Marquette would regain their two-goal cushion on the stroke of halftime as forward Alyssa Bombacino found the back of the net.

ALSO READ: St. John’s suffers back-to-back losses in tough week

The goal seemed to be such a momentum killer at the time heading right into halftime, but the Johnnies responded well in the second half.

Trailing 3-1, the Johnnies would score two goals in the second half to send the game to overtime.

First in the 68th minute, Frederique St. Jean would execute a wonder strike from just outside the box to make it a 3-2 game. The exquisite shot that went over the head of Mikki Easter may certainly have been originally intended as a cross, but St. John’s will take it any way they can get it.

The goal was the sophomore’s first goal of the season and what a way to get it.

Then, with time winding down and St. John’s turning up the pressure on the Golden Eagles’ defense trying to get an equalizer, they would find one in the 88th minute through Athina Sofroniou who fired a fantastic strike that went off the crossbar and into the net.

The goal was the first goal of freshman’s Red Storm career and it sent the game to overtime tied at three.

St. John’s soccer cannot complete comeback against Marquette

Unfortunately, after the Red Storm’s great second-half flurry, Marquette would find the winner in the 98th minute off of a corner kick from midfielder Katarina Wetherell.

St. John’s has struggled this season with set-piece defending and it hurt them here just like it did last week against Georgetown.

The 4-3 defeat is such a heartbreaking one after being behind in the game for so long and coming up with a valiant effort to tie the game up late on, but nonetheless, it is the third straight defeat for the Johnnies.

ALSO READ: St. John’s bounces back in overtime win over Villanova

The four goals that Marquette scored were the most goals the Red Storm has conceded this season.

The loss moves St. John’s to 6-5-2 (2-3-1, Big East) and currently sit eighth in the conference standings while Marquette moves to an 8-6 (4-3, Big East) record as they sit at fourth in the Big East.

If alarm bells weren’t ringing yet, they certainly are now as St. John’s needs to right the ship quickly if they want to get back in contention and into the Big East Tournament.

Next up is Providence back at Belson Stadium on Sunday at 1:00pm EST on FloSports.