St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Fairfield
Men's Soccer Falls 2-1 to Fairfield
9/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 2, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y. - Ryan Soroka netted his second goal in as many games, but it was not enough as the men's soccer team fell 2-1 to Fairfield. The Red Storm drops to 1-1 on the season, while Fairfield improves to 2-0.
"We expected this game to be a good, competitive game," said head coach Dr. Dave Masur. "But we had too many fouls, and unfortunately we couldn't take advantage of some of the scoring chances that we had."
St. John's had the first two scoring opportunities in the game, but shots by Soroka and Nelson Becerra both sailed wide of the goal. In the 18th minute, the Stags got their first scoring chance and capitalized. From the left side, Steve Desmond sent a cross into the box and Todd Rutledge was able to flick a header past Red Storm goalie Neal Kitson. In the closing moments of the first half St. John's had one more opportunity, but a hard shot by Soroka was blocked by a Fairfield defender.
Early in the second half, a Fairfield foul gave St. John's a set piece from 20 yards out. Michael Luk sent a low line drive towards the goal, but it sailed just wide. Three minutes later, Luk was involved again as he sent a forward pass up to Soroka. Soroka settled the pass and was able to send a chip past Jon Paul Francini to tie the game at 1-1 in the 56th minute.
In the 76th minute, however, Fairfield was able to pull ahead 2-1. A corner kick gave the Stags the initial opportunity, but did not lead directly to the goal. More than 30 seconds after the corner kick, Matthew Uy sent a pass to Sam Bailey and Bailey kicked a low shot inside the right post.
During the final ten minutes the Red Storm put the pressure on Francini, but the Fairfield keeper was up to the challenge. Jara Habib, Luk and Alexandre Ivo all sent shots on goal, but Francini saved each of them. St. John's had one last chance as they earned a corner kick with 15 seconds to play, but it sailed through the box.
The Red Storm will travel to Virginia for a pair of games later this week. On September 7 they face Virginia Commonwealth and on September 8 they play Virginia Tech.
