The No. 25/25 ranked St. John’s Red Storm men’s soccer team held the Harvard Crimson scoreless in a 2-0 win on Sept. 9 at Belson Stadium.
It was a defensive show again for the Johnnies as they collected their third straight shutout to open the season. The defense only allowed the Crimson one shot in the first half and three in the entire game. For the second consecutive game there were no shots on goal for the opposition.
“It was good to see, we’ve been working hard all year but it’s a team effort,” said head coach Dave Masur. “ [sophomore midfielder] Adrian [L’Esperance], who played at right midfield, and some other guys did a great job of getting back into pockets and really working hard to make life hard for the opposition.”
It was senior midfielder Ido Ligety’s first career goal, a header, in the 23rd minute that put the Red Storm up 1-0, a lead they would not relinquish.
“It was Ido’s first time in the center back because Bjorn took an injury so he was out a little bit and I thought Chris Lebo, Ido, Connor and Tim did a good job back there,” said Masur.
Senior midfielder Pablo Battuto Punyed, who had an assist, went down when he was elbowed in the head near midfield in the second half in the 48th minute. The captain was busted open and required stitches to close the wound. He was replaced by junior Juan Andres Aguiar Dorante at midfield and did not return. He returned against Yale.
A mere 3 minutes after Punyed’s injury the Red Storm scored again. This time it was senior forward Walter Hines who took a pass from Daniel Herrera and floated one past Harvard goalkeeper Austin Harms from about 12 yards out.
St. John’s had several chances as they took 14 shots and had 12 corner kicks. Sophomore forward Jimmy Mulligan, who had four shots and one assist and Jack Bennett, who had three shots, were on the attack all night and stretched the Crimson defense.
Harvard goalkeeper Harms made 5 saves, all in the second half to try and keep the Crimson in it.
“We’re happy to get a win,” said Masur. “ That’s the objective all the time. We had a week’s worth of training to make sure we were ready to play so it was nice to see some guys step up and do well,”
St. John’s (3-1-0) returns to action at Belson Satdium this Sunday, September 11th at 7:30pm against the Yale Bulldogs. Admission is free for all ROTC, NYPD, FDNY and military personnel when they show their ID at the ticket window.