St. John’s soccer dominates Fairleigh Dickinson in perfect start to 2023

The St. John’s soccer season started in a dominant season opening win over FDU. 

The St. John’s soccer team opened up its 2023 campaign on Thursday night with a comfortable 3-0 victory over the reigning Northeast Conference Champion, Fairleigh Dickinson.

Head coach Ian Stone could not have asked for a better game as the Red Storm controlled the possession throughout the match and the defense put together a strong performance only allowing one shot on goal from FDU.

The first half was the story of the newcomers for St. John’s.

Jordan Levy wasted little time opening up her account with the Red Storm as the Indiana transfer opened the scoring just four minutes in on a header at the back post of a flick from Frederique St. Jean on a corner kick.

Then, 15 minutes in with FDU’s first attack into the St. John’s half the Knights drew a penalty off of a handball by left-back Emily Riggins.

Down 1-0, the Knights thought they had caught a massive break and could get back into the game but Fordham transfer Maria O’Sullivan announced her arrival at St. John’s with a great save on the penalty kick to preserve the lead.

The penalty kick save would represent the only shot from FDU on the night.

In the second half, it was more of the same from St. John’s as they continued to pin the Knights into their own end.

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Six minutes into the second half, Athina Sofroniou would double the Red Storm lead as the junior midfielder latched onto a loose ball at the top of the box and fired home a strike into the bottom left corner.

In the 59th minute, Jessica Garziano would put on the exclamation point to make it a 3-0 contest by heading home the rebound from midfielder Lauryn Tran’s shot that rang off the crossbar.

Garziano was named to the Preseason All-Big East Team last week and was the team’s leading goalscorer last season and she quickly opens her account in 2023.

St. John’s soccer with road trip looming

Next up for the St. John’s soccer team is finalizing a home-and-home series with Navy as they will head out to Annapolis for a Sunday afternoon (1:00p.m. ET, ESPN+) matchup.

The two sides met for the first time ever last season at Belson Stadium as St. John’s came away with the 2-0 win on goals from the now graduated Melina Couzis and Michelle Money.

Navy comes into the game also having won their season opener over Charleston Southern on Thursday.