St. John’s soccer earns several conference season awards

St. John’s soccer takes home several Big East honors, including Goalkeeper of the Year. 

As the St. John’s soccer team await its NCAA Tournament fate, the Red Storm picked up several Big East regular-season honors this past week.

Luka Gavran was named the Big East Goalkeeper of the Year after a season with a 0.52 goals-against average and a .851 save percentage. The Ontario native becomes just the third St. John’s goalkeeper to win the award joining Jan Hoffelner (2019) and Jason Landers (2005).

The junior also recorded an NCAA-best 11 shutouts this season, which is fourth in the single-season record for clean sheets in program history.

Defender Lucas Bartlett and midfielder Brandon Knapp were named to the All-Big East First Team.

Bartlett, a transfer from Drake, was an All-Missouri Valley Conference selection last year and has been a big part of the Red Storm defense this season.

Although he did not win the award, Bartlett was certainly a contender for Big East Defensive Player of the Year as he rarely gets beat when defending and anchors a defense that has allowed just 10 goals this season.

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Offensively, the graduate student from Overland Park, Kansas leads the team in scoring with five goals on the year. Bartlett has been fantastic with ball progression and building out from the back this season with some great distribution as well.

After being named to the All-Big East Third Team in back-to-back seasons, Knapp jumps up to the First Team this year after showing his versatility along with being a steady hand in the midfield when called upon for the Red Storm.

The senior from Abington, Maryland is typically a holding midfielder but at times this season he was pushed into the striker position with the absence of Tani Oluwaseyi.

Knapp is second on the team with four goals on the season and leads with six assists, showing his importance to the Johnnies no matter where he is on the pitch.

The Johnnies currently sit at a 10-5-3 overall record after being upset in the Big East Tournament Quarterfinals by Butler in a penalty shootout at Belson Stadium last weekend.

St. John’s soccer will soon learn if its season continues

On Monday, the Red Storm will learn its NCAA Tournament fate but the Johnnies should be safely in the field as they sit at No. 30 in the RPI rankings, as of last weekend.

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St. John’s will find out if they are in the field, and who their opponent will be, on Monday with the NCAA Men’s Soccer Selection Show taking place at 1:00pm EST on NCAA.com.