St. John’s soccer splits opening conference matches

St. John’s soccer splits its first two conference contests against Georgetown and UConn. 

The St. John’s soccer team entered conference play wrapping up its longest road trip of the season against Georgetown on Thursday evening.

In a rematch of last season’s Big East Tournament Championship game, which Georgetown won by a 1-0 scoreline, the two programs met for the first time since its historic matchup.

The game was eerily similar to last year’s game where Georgetown utterly dominated the possession of the ball and the chances on goal. The Red Storm were held to just one shot in the game, albeit the shot was a solid attempt by Melina Couzis that forced a save out of Georgetown’s Allie Auguer in the 88th minute as the Johnnies were chasing the game.

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Georgetown would grab the lone goal of the game courtesy of a 71st-minute strike from Emma Davis from way outside of the box that Gina Muzi just could not get to.

The last three meetings between St. John’s and Georgetown have ended in 1-0 Hoya wins.

The loss on Thursday capped off a difficult road trip for the Red Storm, suffering two losses and a draw along with being shut out in all three contests.

St. John’s soccer looking to bounce back against UConn

The Red Storm would then return to Queens for its conference home opener in a Sunday afternoon contest against UConn.

St. John’s controlled most of the play early on, forcing UConn’s Adyson Duran into making a key save on Isabella Aviza.

The Massachusetts native would get a shot past Duran later in the 14 minute for her first goal of the season to give St. John’s the lead, firing a shot into the bottom right corner after receiving a low cross to the top of the box from Couzis.

UConn grew into the game as the half went on, but struggled to create a lot of dangerous chances for Muzi to deal with.

The Huskies had some better chances in the second half to equalize, but the St. John’s defense were able to do enough to keep the vistors including this stellar block by Katherine Turner.

UConn outshot St. John’s in this contest, 8-3, with both teams having three shots on goal.

However, there were very few clear-cut chances created by the visitors to threaten St. John’s.

The Red Storm would hold on for the 1-0 win, making it their second straight win over UConn after the Johnnies won 3-0 in Storrs last season.

St. John’s now moves to a 4-3-3 record (1-1 Big East) on the season and stay in Queens to take on Seton Hall on Thursday at 7:00pm.

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The main concern for the Johnnies, as its been for most of the season, is offense.

St. John’s has scored just one goal in the past four games, but the defense has been rock solid, allowing just two goals in the last five games.

The offense must do more of its part to rip off wins this season in the Big East.

Seton Hall will come into Queens this week with a 4-4-2 record (0-2 Big East) after falling to Providence and Villanova by 1-0 and 2-0 score lines, respectively, to kick off conference play.

St. John’s is 18-2 all-time against the Pirates, although one of those losses came recently in the Spring 2021 season.