St. John’s Soccer Roundup: 9/12

The St. John’s men’s soccer team improved to 3-1-1 on the season yesterday with a 2-0 victory over the Crusaders of Holy Cross. It is the best start to a season for the Red Storm since 2013 when they started 5-0-1.

Both goals were scored by sophomore Filippo Ricupati, which were his first two of the season and the fourth and fifth of his career.

The Johnnies dominated the entire game, out-shooting Holy Cross 25-4 and had seven corner kicks compared to their one. After the first half, they had out-shot the Crusaders 13-0 but were unable to break through.

Ricupati finally found the back of the net in the 66^th minute. Executing a perfect give-and-go with sophomore Mike Prosuk, Ricupati headed the ball to the edge of the 18-yard box where Prosuk gave it right back and the Italian was able to fire it past the goalkeeper to give the Red Storm the lead.

For the rest of the game, St. John’s tried to hold the slim lead while also looking for an insurance goal. They finally got their second goal in the 89^th minute, when Junior Harry Cooksley found a streaking Ricupati who again was able to flick it past the keeper to secure the win for the Johnnies. The assist for Cooksley was his seventh point of the season, which leads the team.

Ricupati earned a spot on the Big East weekly honor roll. In addition to his two goals against Holy Cross, he also added an assist in the victory over Princeton earlier in the week to register five total points.

Andrew Withers played the entire game for in net for St. John’s and recorded one save en route to his first career shutout. It was the first time this season the Red Storm used one goalie for the entire game, as Withers had been splitting time with Michael Bernardi.

The Red Storm begin conference play on Saturday when they travel to Milwaukee to face Marquette.

Women’s soccer

The St. John’s women’s soccer team spent the weekend in the Pacific Northwest, participating in the Nike Portland Invitational.

After a scoreless draw in their game on Friday against Pac-12 power Washington, they suffered defeat for the first time this season in a 2-1 loss to Portland on Sunday evening.

Senior goalkeeper Diana Poulin recorded her NCAA-leading fifth shutout of the season in the game against the Huskies and lowered her goals against average to .13, but she finally saw a team break through against her and the Red Storm defense when facing Portland.

The Johnnies grabbed the lead when Sophomore Samie Scaffidi took a corner kick and found Mikhaila Martinov on the far post. The junior from Northport, NY took the ball and snuck it past the goalkeeper as she was falling down. It was the first goal of her St. John’s career.

Just 40 seconds before halftime, Portland tied it up on a goal by Devlyn Jeter.

In the second half, Portland scored the game winner in the 64^th minute on a corner kick when Allison Wetherington took the set piece and sent it right into the corner of the net.

The Johnnies have a week off as they travel back to New York to get ready for a matchup against La Salle at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Belson Stadium.