St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Rutgers
Rutgers Blanks St. John's 3-0
10/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 13, 2004
Queens, NY - The St. John's University women's soccer team fell to BIG EAST rival Rutgers this evening at Belson Stadium 3-0. The Red Storm fall to 8-5-1 overall and 2-5 in the BIG EAST, while the Scarlet Knights improve to 9-7 and 4-3 in the conference.
The Scarlet Knights' offense attacked early, scoring the go-ahead goal two and a half minutes into the game. Rutgers took their first shot of the game just 20 seconds earlier, but Amanda Allessio's attempt was wide. Moments later, Carli Lloyd picked up a deflection off the foot of a St. John's defender and sent it into the left corner of the net past Red Storm keeper Tracey Rollings (Paignton, England) for the 1-0 lead.
The Red Storm had only one chance to equalize in the first half. After being set-up in front of the goal by Krystle Jalalian (Burien, WA), Holly Ryder's (Plantation, FL) shot with 31 minutes remaining caught the crossbar and bounced out of bounds.
St. John's had two opportunities with about 30 minutes remaining in the game. A Rutgers defender tackled Ryder just as she took a shot, but the Red Storm's resulting corner kick was cleared by the defense. Three minutes later, Natasha Lee's (Albuquerque, NM) break attempt was foiled by Robyn Jones in the net for the Scarlet Knights, who collided with Lee and cleared the ball.
Rutgers nearly scored again with seven minutes remaining as a defensive mishap nearly led to a goal. Rollings came off of her line to pick up a cross, but the ball slipped through her hands and rolled to Christine Wentzler. Andrea Coukoulis (Scottsdale, AZ) took away the angle by defending the goal line and Wentzler's shot went wide.
The Scarlet Knights' attack stayed strong and three minutes later scored the first of two back-to-back goals. Lloyd picked the ball up about 40 yards from the goal and dribbled through most of the Red Storm defense on the left side of the field, setting up a one-on-one with Rollings. Lloyd sent the ball to the far side of the net for the 2-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Wentzler capitalized on another opportunity, this time connecting to the lower left side of the net. Tara Froelich set up the play with a cross from the left side to Wentzler, who was breaking down the right side of the field.
Rollings finished with four saves for St. John's. Jones picked up the win, finishing with three saves for Rutgers.
The Red Storm will play their final home contest of the season on Friday, when Pittsburgh visits Belson Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 pm.
