St. John’s soccer completes winless week in uneven start

St. John’s Soccer was winless in their three matches this week in an uneven start to the season

The St. John’s soccer Team completed a week of winless results on Sunday as they saw a 2-0 halftime lead on the road disappear against Columbia, finishing in a 2-2 draw.

To start off the week, St. John’s traveled to New Jersey to take on NJIT last Sunday.

After initially taking the lead through senior midfielder Jessica Garziano, the Red Storm found themselves down 2-1 late on until Garziano connected with sophomore Jailene DeJesus in the 78th minute to preserve a draw.

The Red Storm would return to Belson Stadium to take on Sacred Heart where they would suffer their first defeat of the season through two second-half goals from the Pioneers, despite dominating most of the play.

ALSO READ: St. John’s takes season opener against St. Joe’s

It was also the first loss that St. John’s have suffered to Sacred Heart in four all-time meetings.

The aforementioned 2-2 draw on Sunday against Columbia came after goals by Nicole Gordon and Garziano in a first half that the Red Storm dominated outshooting Columbia, 10-5.

The first half included St. John’s being awarded a penalty kick for a handball by Columbia in their box and the attempt fired in by Garziano was saved by Columbia goalkeeper Paige Nurkin.

The penalty kick miss winded up looming large in the result of this game. Columbia stormed back with 12 shots in the second half, four on goal to claw back to a tie.

Overall, St. John’s has not won since their season opener against Saint Joseph’s, a tight 2-1 win back on August 18.

St. John’s soccer still developing early in season

The defense has been shaky despite most of the experience along the backline.

St. John’s has not completed a clean sheet in its first four games and has seen some leads slip away despite having plenty of chances to score and dominating the general play.

The bright side is that Garziano is living up to all the preseason honors and watch list the senior was named to, scoring two goals and three assists in the first four games of the season, becoming a key focal point of the Red Storm team in 2022.

ALSO READ: Jessica Garziano earns preseason honors

Nicole Gordon has also impressed with two goals of her own, combining with Garziano for four of the six St. John’s goals so far this season.

While a solid duo may be forming in the attack, the defensive side of things needs some improvements in order for St. John’s to get back in the win column.

Sunday’s tie brings St. John’s to a 1-1-2 record on the season.

Next up, St. John’s will head back to Queens to take on Navy on Friday at 8:00pm.