St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Hartwick
Gotsmanov Leads Red Storm Past Hartwick, 4-1
10/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 1, 2004
Piscataway, NJ - Friday, October 1, 2004, Queens, NY -- St. John's freshman forward Andrei Gotsmanov (St. Paul, MN) put on the shoes he wore when he scored his first collegiate goal on Friday night as the No. 12 Red Storm prepared for Hartwick in first round action of the Rutgers Classic.
Gotsmanov wore the same shoes on September 6, when he scored against West Virginia, leading the Red Storm to a 2-0 win.
Just about a month later, Gotsmanov and his shoes scored three times, leading the Red Storm to a 4-1 win over Hartwick. St. John's improves to 6-2-1 overall, while Hartwick falls to 4-2-3.
St. John's took a 2-0 lead 10 minutes into the game on a pair of goals from Gotsmanov. The first came after a corner from senior Simone Salinno (Lucera, Italy), whose shot from the nearside left corner went to the middle of the box and Gotsmanov knocked in the low cross from 14 yards, beating Hartwick keeper Josh Wagenaar at 9:15.
Just over a minute later, Salinno had a shot in the box saved by Wagenaar and Gotsmanov picked up a ball deflected by Hartwick defender. The freshman knocked the ball past the Hawks' keeper at 10:36, putting the ball to the upper far post.
Trailing by a pair early in the game, the Hawks began to press. In the 23rd minute, Hartwick forward Craig Potter was taken down inn the box by Red Storm freshman keeper Jason Landers (Lower Gwynned, PA) and a penalty kick was called. Potter beat Landers to the lower nearside post at 23:04, cutting the Red Storm lead in half.
St. John's had a chance to take a 3-1 lead in the 25th minute when senior Chris Corcoran (Marshfield, MA) headed a ball to the box, where Salinno appeared to have a chance, but Wagenaar made a dive to prevent the shot.
Seconds after that threat, Gotsmanov recorded the hat trick. Sophomore forward Ashley Kozicki (Pleasant Valley, PA) sent a cross from the far side of the field to Gotsmanov, whose headed it to the far post past Wagenaar at 25:47.
St. John's wasted no time in the second half, scoring 90 seconds into the period to take a 4-1 lead. Junior Sebastian Alvarado-Ralph (Gothenburg, Sweden) dribbled the ball along the endline and slotted a ball past a defender to Salinno, who tapped the ball past Wagenaar at 46:31.
The hat trick was the first by a St. John's player since Jesse Van Saun scored three against UNLV on October 6, 1996 during the same Rutgers tournament. The St. John's record for most goals in a game is five, set by Fred Bischoff twice (1982 vs. Iona; 1980 vs. Fairfield). He is the 16th player in program history to register a hat trick. Gotsmanov's hat trick tied the Yurcak Field record for most goals in a game, held since 1996 by Van Saun.
St. John's and Hartwick each had 10 shots, with the Red Storm taking nine on goal and the Hawks managing five. Hartwick had seven corner kicks, while St. John's managed one.
St. John's returns to action on Sunday, October 3, playing the College of Charleston. Kickoff at Yurcak Field is slated for 1:30 p.m.
