St. John's University Athletics
Josephs Goal Lifts St. Johns Past UMass, 1-0
11/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
The win advances the Red Storm to their sixth consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAAs. St. Johns improved to 15-2-3 with the win and will play Penn State, 1-0 winners in three overtimes over South Florida, next Saturday at Adelphi.
We knew this would be a challenge today, St. Johns Head Coach Dave Masur said afterward. Massachusetts played a tough game on Friday and we knew we would have to be on top of things to advance. Shalrie came through for us like he has many times this year, and were excited to move on.
The Red Storm dominated play for much of the game and finally took the lead in the 79th minute when sophomore Matia Damiani (Foggia, Italy) headed a ball to Joseph, who found himself one-on-one covered by UMass defenders John Lytton and J.R. Pouncey outside the box. Joseph beat Lytton, then faked taking a shot at the bouncing ball and moved past Pouncey. His shot from about eight yards out beat Minutemen goalkeeper Bryan OQuinn to the lower far post.
I ran into space, Joseph said. I went one-on-one with their defender, faked the shot and the guy (Pouncey) jumped. I took a low shot in on the keeper and happened to hit it well.
St. Johns jumped to the offensive early in the first half, with sophomore Simone Salinno (Lucera, Italy) getting the first shot in the ninth minute. Massachusetts only shot in the first half came in the 21st minute, when junior midfielder Derek Rhodes sent a blast high over the goal. From that point on, the Red Storm controlled play, outshooting UMass 7-1 in the first half.
In the 32nd minute, it appeared St. Johns had taken a 1-0 lead when sophomore center-back Chris Wingert (Babylon, N.Y.) delivered a ball to the near side of the box to Salinno. Salinno faked outside and went in on the defender, and took a shot from eight yards out that beat OQuinn, but was called offsides, keeping the game scoreless.
Sophomore forward Angel Rodriguez (Toms River, N.J.) sent a header high at 34:12, while Joseph sent one wide off a corner at 35:00. At 37:10, OQuinn poked a header from Rodriguez high over the net and did the same at the 42:55 mark on a header by Joseph.
The second half was much of the same, as the Red Storm continued to press the Massachusetts defense, with a shot from senior midfielder Jeff Matteo (Stormville, N.Y.) in the 63rd minute saved, one from Damiani seconds later blocked and another from Salinno in the 64th minute that went high. In the 75th minute, Joseph had a header saved by OQuinn. After Joseph scored what proved to be the decisive goal, the Red Storm had other chances, with a shot from freshman Andre Schmid (Sacramento, Calif.) hitting the post, and shots by Matteo and Rodriguez in the 81st minute saved by Minutemen defenders after OQuinn was caught off the line.
St. Johns outshot Massachusetts, 18-4, and had nine corner kicks, while the Minutemen had none. OQuinn had nine saves in goal, while St. Johns junior goalkeeper Guy Hertz (Ramat-Hasharon, Israel), who recorded his 11th shutout this season, had one save.
It was the third game-winning goal in the last four games for Joseph, who now has six goals this season. Jospeh, an All-American candidate and two-time first-team All-BIG EAST selection, led the Red Storm in scoring last year. "He added a whole new dimension to the game when he moved up front," UMass defender Pouncey said afterward. "He's athletic and tall and he gets to every ball. He had it all. Marking him is like marking two players."
St. Johns will play Penn State next Saturday at noon at Stiles Field on the campus of Adelphi University.