St. John’s soccer loses win streak but remains hot

The record-breaking winning streak is over for the Johnnies, as they found themselves victim of a heartbreaking loss at the University of Maryland. The loss dropped the Johnnies to 7-0-1 on the season and 1-0-1 last week after beating Xavier early.

The seven game win streak to begin the season was the best ever at St. John’s, besting the 2001 squad by two games.

The 1-1 split last week didn’t drop the Johnnies in the United Soccer Coaches’ rankings as they maintained their 9^th spot.

The outfielders for St. John’s did their job boosting the team, with midfielder Niko Petridis earning Big East Offensive Player of the Week. The goalkeeping couldn’t sustain the hot start they had to begin the season. The team conceded two goals last week, bringing the total for the season up to five (in eight games).

Looking back on last week, below

St. John’s 3, Xavier 1

The Johnnies opened Big East play by hosting #19 Xavier in Queens. The Johnnies fell behind early, spending the first half chasing the game. But 3 quick second-half goals brought the team back into victory formation.

Niko Petridis, midfielder, assisted on the first St. John’s goal of the night with a corner kick that was knocked in by midfielder Brandon Duarte. Petridis went on to score the remaining two goals for the Johnnies in the final 23 minutes to secure a win for the team. The win ended up being the final of seven to begin the historic season for St. John’s.

Xavier was able to get on the board early with a goal in the 12^th minute but fell dormant, unable to record a shot on goal for the remainder of the game. Xavier’s Ryan Bellavance was also the lone recipient of a booking in the game with a yellow card in the 50^th minute.

St. John’s 0, Maryland 1

The Johnnies traveled to the mid-Atlantic Monday to face #25th ranked Maryland. The Johnnies played stellar defense by keeping Maryland off the board for the entirety of regulation, but Maryland’s defense reciprocated. The scoreless tie was taken into a sudden death overtime with both sides failing to score in the first overtime.

Goalies Lukas Gavran and Jan Hoffelner split time in the game for St. John’s and were able to maintain the safety of the net for 108 minutes.

The second overtime brought trouble for St. John’s as the lone goal of the match was scored off a corner kick by Maryland, terminating the Johnnies’ win streak.

Coming up

The next week for the club brings up one match at Butler.

The match on September 28^th will be the second game of Big East Play for St. John’s and will be streamed via Facebook Live.

The game serves as a chance for St. John’s to claim its second Big East victory and pull within one of last year’s total with 7 left to play.