The St. John’s women’s soccer team suffered its first lost of the season yesterday when they fell 1-0 to the Yale Bulldogs in New Haven, Conn.

Freshman goalkeeper Kristin Russell’s flawless replacement of injured senior Rebecca Capinera came to an end in the 83rd minute against Yale. Bulldog defender Hayley Zevenbergen deflected forward Maggie Westfal’s long cross past Russell into the left corner of the net.

The goal was the first Russell has allowed in her three starts this season and, also, the first of the senior Zevenbergen career. Russell tallied nine saves against the Bulldogs.

“She made a couple of great saves,” head coach Ian Stone said. “She’s mature above her freshman status. We are happy with how she’s performed so far.”

The Red Storm’s offense has been less than overwhelming so far in 2008 – their three wins have been 1-0 Russell shutouts – but Sunday’s efforts fell to new lows. They only forced Bulldog goalkeeper Ayana Sumiyasu to make three saves in the game and managed only nine total shots. They came up empty on corners; they didn’t win one, while allowing Yale seven.

“We struggled to possess the ball,” Stone said. “At home, we do pretty well to possess the ball, but when we are away we’ve got to find a way to be a little more confident on the ball.”

Sarah McGrath was the Storm’s lone bright spot on offense. She rang off four shots and was responsible for two of the Johnnies three shots on goal.

“The chances we had were two or three pretty good chances,” Stone added.

The Storm are now 3-1 heading into their first home game since Aug. 22 on Friday against Columbia.