The St. John’s men’s soccer team looked to end a three-game losing streak in
conference play on Saturday night at Belson Stadium, as they earned a hard-fought
1-1 draw with DePaul.
The match began with both teams trading scoring chances early on, beginning with
Simon Tchoukriel pushing a header off the crossbar for the Red Storm in the 7th
minute. The Blue Demons threatened two minutes later, after they had two
straight close range shots blocked by the St. John’s defense.
DePaul who capitalized first on a scoring chance in the 39th minute, after Erik
Rodriguez sent a nice header past St. John’s goalkeeper Jordan Stagmiller to give the
Blue Demons a 1-0 lead.
The DePaul lead was short-lived however, as St. John’s senior defender Casey
Osborne scored his first goal of the season from outside the six-yard box in the 44th
minute.
“It was huge, Casey kind of saw the opportunity… and he did well to get it under and
kind of make sure he concentrated and smashed it into the goal. So it was a big time
goal,” said Masur.
The second half was relatively uneventful for large periods of time. In fact, neither
team would put a shot in the goal until the 65th minute of play. After a few tame
chances followed that, each team would have a golden opportunity in the closing
moments of regulation.
First, it was Osborne for the Red Storm, who nearly scored his second goal of the
night, after blasting a shot just wide of the post in the 87th minute. DePaul
responded just two minutes later, after Rodriguez beat Stagmiller again. Sophomore
defender Jean Leveille made an outstanding defensive play at the goal line to keep
the game tied.
St. John’s dominated both overtime periods, outshooting DePaul 7-1 and taking four
corner kicks total, but they would be unable to push across a game-winning goal and
the game would end in a 1-1 tie.
Despite not being able to find the deciding goal in the second half or overtime,
Masur seemed content with his team’s play after the game. “I thought after the first
half into the second half we played a little more positive soccer,” he said. “We played
with a little more energy and a little more competitiveness in the attacking half of
the field which created a little bit more chances.”
Osborne echoed his coach’s statement after the game, saying that capitalizing on
their second half struggles was a focal point for the team to work on. “We’ve kind of
struggled at times coming out in the second half, and that’s kind of what we talked
about at half time,” he said.
The draw puts St. John’s at 4-7-4 overall and 1-4-1 in the conference this season.
They’ll be back in action Wednesday night at Belson Stadium for a matchup with
Villanova.
