St. John's University Athletics
St. Johns Mens Soccer Tops Florida International, 1-0
9/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
The Red Storm had hoped to open their home season at their new home, Belson Stadium, but construction had not been completed and the team moved the tournament offsite.
Despite the move, the tournament, featuring four of the top teams in college soccer proved to be a success with a pair of exciting games.
In the nightcap, St. Johns controlled from kickoff. The Red Storm attacked the Golden Panthers, who they defeated in 1996 for the National Championship, early and often. Junior Angel Rodriguez (Toms River, N.J.) blasted a shot three minutes in that went wide while a header from Chris Wingert (Babylon, N.Y.) off a corner kick was saved by FIU keeper Roy Rosenberg.
Fifteen minutes into the game, headers from Wingert and sophomore Chris Leidner (Greenlawn, N.Y.) were blocked and saved as FIU held off a strong SJU attack. Finally, at the 33:19 mark, the ball bounced out from the box to senior Alberto Duenas (Junipero, Calif.), who blasted a shot from about 32 yards out that streaked past a group of players and beat Rosenberg to the lower far post, giving St. Johns a 1-0 lead.
That was all they would need. The Red Storm had several chances in the second half, the best coming on successive shots from sophomore Chris Corcoran (Marshfield, Mass.) and Rodriguez, but could not net another.
Much of the half was played in the St. Johns end, but FIUs best chance came when Bobby Boswell narrowly missed on a header off a Matias Asorey corner kick with just under six minutes left.
The win improves St. Johns to 1-1-0 this season, while FIU falls to 0-3-0.
St. Johns outshot FIU, 11-3, and had six corner kicks, while the Golden Panthers took one.
Junior Bill Gaudette (Hummelstown, Pa.) had one save and earned the win for St. Johns.
The Red Storm face another tough test on Saturday night when they play Indiana at 8 p.m. The two teams met last year twice, splitting a pair of games, including one at the NCAA Final Four.
