St. John’s women’s soccer outlasted Miami (Ohio) Sunday, walking away with a 2-1 victory for its fourth-straight win and to remain undefeated on the season. Despite out shooting Miami by a count of 20-5, the Red Storm only scored two goals, having to come from behind early in the second half.
“I thought we came out with a lot of energy,” said head coach Ian Stone.
St. John’s carried the play throughout the first half with a shot count of 11-1 in favor of the Johnnies.
However the Red Storm was unable to get any solid opportunities, ending the half in a scoreless draw.
Miami came out harder in the second half as the shots remained even at four apiece to start the half.
St. John’s first good scoring opportunity came just after the start of the half, when senior forward Krystle Jalalian floated one over Miami keeper Krista Pace and off the crossbar.
With 26 minutes remaining in the second, Miami’s Sara Lund beat St. John’s keeper Jaime Beran on a breakaway to take the lead.
“It would have been so ironic if we had that many shots and ended up losing that game,” Stone said.
St. John’s answered back less than a minute later, though, as midfielder Erin Bohn was able to beat Pace to knot the score.
“We had exactly the right answer [to Miami’s first goal] and it was just a matter of time before we found the winning goal,” Stone said.
The Johnnies continued to carry the play after tying the score, controlling the time of possession and continuing to put the ball at the net.
“I think it really says we have a lot of heart and desire [to come back in the game],” said Raelynne Lee, who scored the game-winning goal. “We knew we should win this game and that we were going to win this game, but it came down to putting the ball in the back of the net.”
St. John’s struck again less than 10 minutes later after its first goal, as Lee was able to head a cross from Amanda Pasciolla to give the Red Storm the lead.
“I made a far post run and Amanda Pasciolla made a beautiful cross and hung it far post and I jumped up and headed it down,” Lee said.
Despite the favorable outcome for St. John’s, the lowly goal-to-shot ratio against Miami raised a few eyebrows.
“We’ve done pretty well scoring goals up to that point,” Stone said.
I think maybe coming back on our home field we were almost too anxious to press [offensively].”
After a red hot 4-0 start, St. John’s will look to extend its winning streak at a tournament in Buffalo, N.Y. next weekend where they will face Vermont and Maine.
“We need to not get carried away,” said Stone. “We need to make sure we stay consistent.”
