The St. John’s Men’s Soccer team suffered a tough loss on Saturday night, as they fell on the road at their conference rival Marquette, 2-0.
Led by the outstanding goaltending of their junior goalkeeper Jordan Stagmiller, the Red Storm were able to battle No. 8 Marquette to a scoreless first half. But the Golden Eagles were able to break through for two second half goals to secure the victory.
“It’s a disappointing result because I thought we played a good first half on the road against a tough Marquette squad,” head coach Dave Masur told RedStormSports.com, “but we allowed an early second half goal and it swung the momentum just enough.”
Speaking to coach Masur’s point, St. John’s was able to keep pace with Marquette in the first half despite being outshot by the Golden Eagles, eight to three. After the teams traded chances for the first 30 minutes of the half, it would be Marquette who nearly broke the tie in the 30th minute with a pair of threatening shots.
It would be Marquette’s Alex McBride who had the first chance in the 30th minute, but Stagmiller was able to make a diving stop to keep the game scoreless. On the corner kick that followed, Stagmiller was forced to make another save on a header from Axel Sjoberg to preserve the tie.
The Red Storm would threaten a few minutes later, but nothing would come of the chance, as the game would go into the half a scoreless tie.
But the Golden Eagles would waste no time breaking the tie in the second half, as they would push across a goal in the 47th minute of play. The goal was scored after defender Jake Taylor was able to dribble into the box and send in a nice cross to connect with midfielder Louis Bennett II, who was able to drive in a shot inside the left post.
From there the Red Storm would look to respond, and they nearly tied the game after freshman midfielder Anthony Viteri fired a shot from distance that went just wide of the goal in the 74th minute.
However, five minutes later the St. John’s comeback attempt looked like it would be halted after a foul inside of the box led to a Marquette penalty kick. But Stagmiller would come up huge again for the Red Storm, as he was able to save the penalty and the ensuing rebound shot to keep the game at 1-0.
Despite Stagmiller’s saved penalty, St. John’s would be unable to capitalize on any further chances in the game’s final ten minutes. The Golden Eagles were able to officially put a cap on their victory after they would add a second goal with just three seconds remaining in the game.
Although Stagmiller did pick up the loss, his fifth of the season, he also recorded a career-high eight saves for the Red Storm. Stagmiller has now allowed two or less goals in 10 straight games this season.
The loss also drops St. John’s to 4-5-3 overall and 1-2-0 in the conference. They currently sit tied for sixth in the Big East Standings. Next up for the Red Storm will be a tough matchup at Belson Stadium on Wednesday night against the No. 4 Creighton Blue Jays.
