St. John’s Women’s Soccer clinched a 3-3 draw against UConn on Sept. 22 in an early afternoon matchup in Queens. Both teams entered their first Big East match of the season coming off wins against UPenn and Texas A&M.
UConn started the first half holding the majority of possession while keeping the Red Storm in their corner for the first 20 minutes.
St. John’s opened the scoring with a three-part sequence as senior midfielder Jailene DeJesus placed a good through ball to freshman forward Nora Basile who then laid it off to senior forward Jordyn Levy. This marks Levy’s 5th goal of the season.
The Red Storm got their second goal about seven minutes later from a corner kick whipped in by freshman forward Madison Mariani. The lofted ball was met with a header from freshman defender Freya Meadows-Tuson securing her first career goal for the Red Storm.
The team would score their third and final goal two minutes later after a deflected shot from junior midfielder Emily Riggins fell to freshman midfielder Janelle Sylvestre. Sylvestre beat out UConn goalkeeper Kaitlyn Mahoney with a header to tack on her first goal of 2024.
A handball penalty sparked the Huskies’ comeback as junior forward Chioma Okafor tucked away an easy kick.
UConn scored their final two goals in the 39th and 49th minute to complete their comeback. Senior midfielder Joyce Ryder whipped in a cross pass at the edge of the 6-yard box to connect with freshman forward Naia Ocio for a corner kick to tie up the game.
At the end of the first half St. John’s had five shots and three corner kicks while UConn tacked on nine shots and two corner kicks.
From there, UConn dominated the game and controlled possession of the match. The Huskies outshot St. John’s 15-1 in the second half and 24-6 overall.
The Huskies threatened to steal the game in the final minute of play with a dangerous shot from senior forward Maddie Fried. The effort was matched with an amazing save from senior goalkeeper Malene Nielsen to secure the 3-3 draw.
The Red Storm travel to Rhode Island for their next match against Providence College on Sept. 26.
Copan Alvarez • Sep 25, 2024 at 9:56 am
Great Article