St. John’s soccer thrashes Lehigh for first win of season

St. John’s soccer gets on the board in 2022 with a dominating home win against Lehigh. 

It was an evening full of firsts for the St. John’s soccer side as they finally got on the board in 2022 in dominating fashion after losing their first two games, taking down Lehigh by a 5-0 scoreline.

St. John’s got off to a fast start with three goals in the first half, the first time the Johnnies have accomplished that feat since September, 23 2017 against Xavier.

Marist transfer and redshirt junior midfielder Antek Sienkiel got the scoring started in the 18th minute with a beautiful strike to the top right-hand corner from outside the box for the Red Storm’s first goal of 2022 after being shutout in their first two contests.

The Newton, Pennslyvania native would double the Red Storm’s lead just five minutes later after receiving a slip pass from freshman Miguel Diaz and fired a shot to the far post past Lehigh goalkeeper Ryan Gross.

Graduate student Brandon Knapp converted a penalty kick in the 30th minute to make it 3-0.

The second half picked up right where the first half left off as Sienkiel made it 4-0 in the 51st minute, sealing a historic hat trick.

It was the first time a St. John’s player had achieved a hat trick in a game since 2004 and the 21st in program history.

Wesley Leggett would round out the scoring in the 66th minute, following up a save on Drew Rosen’s shot to seal the convincing win.

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While Lehigh had their opportunities with 10 shots, four of them on goal in this game, freshman goalkeeper Zenden Hart was equal to them to seal his first collegiate shutout.

The Red Storm defense will have to limit those opportunities for its next opponent.

St. John’s soccer set for a massive road clash with a national powerhouse

After moving to a 1-2 record on the season, clinching their first win over Lehigh in three all-time meetings, St. John’s will head to Bloomington to take on national powerhouse and No. 21 Indiana on Tuesday evening at 8:00pm.

It is a huge chance for the Johnnies to notch a major resume victory, not only on the road but against such a strong program.

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The Hoosiers have been such a strong program in college soccer for quite some time, most recently making the Sweet 16 last season and the National Championship back in the pandemic-shortened season of Spring 2021.

The last time St. John’s faced Indiana was in 2015 in Bloomington where they fell 1-0.

The last time the Red Storm topped the Hoosiers was in 2008 in the historic College Cup season for the Red Storm where they won 3-2 in overtime.

Of course, overtime is history in collegiate soccer now with the newest rules this year ending a regular season match in a draw if the score is tied after 90 minutes.