St. John’s faced its biggest test of the season on Sunday.
In the typical formula, a Rachel Daly score, stout team defense and goalkeeping were good enough against their toughest opponent as No. 25 St. John’s drew a 1-1 draw with first place, No. 18 DePaul.
“This was a hard-fought battle between two elite teams,” St. John’s head coach Ian Stone said.
“I am proud of the effort and belief we demonstrated on the road today.”
DePaul (11-2-3, 5-0-1) jumped out in front in the 26th minute on a 10-foot strike from Franny Cerny, her sixth of the season.
Abby Reed picked up the assist for the home team as she caused a turnover in their offensive zone.
After falling behind, St. John’s (12-2-1) turned the pressure back on DePaul and registered three shots on goal in the first half, two of which came on corner kicks in the last two minutes of the period. But, they were unable to get the equalizer until the second half.
Daly found the game-tying score in the 61st minute after she cleaned up a clearing attempt by DePaul following a scramble in front of the net started by junior Morgan Tinari. It was Daly’s 16th of the season.
After 30 more minutes, the match still wasn’t decided and the teams went into overtime. St. John’s had a chance to steal the road victory seven minutes into the first extra period, but Emily Cubbage’s shot just rang off the crossbar.
Junior Diana Poulin came up big in overtime. Five minutes into the second extra period, she denied Reed up in the box. She and defender Georgia Kearney-Perry prevented a pair of last minute scoring chances.
Poulin made a save on a shot by Taylor Schissler and Kearney-Perry blocked a shot by CernWy to preserve the 1-1 draw. Poulin had three saves in the day.
DePaul had the edge in shots 15-12, but the teams were even on shots that met their target on goal (four) Daly had seven shots overall, three of which were on goal.
With Georgetown’s draw at Marquette, St. John’s remains tied with the Hoyas for second place in the Big East.
St. John’s plays their final scheduled home game of the season on Thursday against Xavier for Senior Night. They will wrap up the regular season afterwards at Villanova and Providence.
