St. John's University Athletics
Wingert Leads Red Storm Past FIU, 3-1
10/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Add to it that the ninth-ranked Red Storm topped 10th-ranked Florida International, 3-1, in front of 1,056 at Belson Stadium, and it made for a great night.
The Red Storm improve to 12-4-2 overall with the win, while the Golden Panthers fall to 9-3-2 overall.
St. John?s jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute when a foul outside the box resulted in a free kick. Chris Wingert (Babylon, N.Y.) sent his kick from 20 yards out to the box, where classmate Angel Rodriguez (Toms River, N.J.) made a diving header and beat FIU keeper Roy Rosenberg to the lower far post.
The Red Storm quickly added to goals in the first portion of the second half to open a 3-0 lead. Junior Chris Corcoran (Marshfield, Mass.) sent a cross from the middle of the field to freshman Ashley Kozicki (Pleasant Valley, Pa.), who had a pair of FIU defenders on him in the box. Kozicki was fouled on the play, and St. John's was awarded a penalthy kick. Wingert, who scored on a PK against Providence last week, sent his shot to the lower far post beating Rosenberg at 60:21 and giving St. John's a 2-0 lead. Just over a minute later the Golden Panthers were trying to clear the ball back to Rosenberg. A long ball was sent high and Corcoran went up for the ball with Rosenberg and headed it past him and into the middle of the net, giving St. John?s a 3-0 lead at 61:26. The Golden Panthers would cut the lead to 3-1 at 70:00, when a foul was called on a St. John?s defender in the box. Senior John Pulido had his penalty shot deflect off of Red Storm goalkeeper Guy Hertz (Ramat-Hasharon, Israel) hands, but it beat him to the upper middle at 73:33.
FIU would press in the closing minutes of the game, but the Red Storm defense and Hertz were able to hold off the visitors.
The game open very evenly played, with both teams making strong runs. The Red Storm had the first shot in the eight minute of play when Tim O?Neill?s (Philadelphia, Pa.) sliding dive off of a Simone Salinno (Lucera, Italy) corner kick in the middle of the box went high. The Golden Panthers responded immediately after a pair of St. John?s fouls brought FIU to the 22-yard line, where a shot from Lucas Skudeler went high.
In the 17th minute, a shot from FIU?s Bobby Boswell went wide, but was tipped by Hertz, giving the Panthers a corner kick. The resulting corner was headed by Lucas Cudeler, but the shot went high.
In the second half, the Red Storm?s first chance came in the 54th minute. A foul on the near sideline gave Wingert a free kick, which bounced back out to Salinno. The senior, who scored from nearly the same spot on Friday night against Boston College, blasted a shot from 22 yards that went high.
Florida International out shot St. John?s, 10-8, but the Red Storm had five shots on goal, while the Golden Panthers were limited to three. St. John?s controlled corner kicks, taking seven to FIU?s four.
The Red Storm return to play on Saturday, November 1 at West Virginia. A win would clinch St. John?s fifth BIG EAST regular season championship under head coach Dave Masur, and its first since 1997.
