St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Virginia Tech
Red Storm Men's Soccer Falls To Virginia Tech, 2-1
9/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 8, 2007
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Jeff Stepan notched his first goal of the season to cut a 2-0 Virginia Tech lead in half, but the Red Storm could not tally the equalizer and the Hokies went on to win by a 2-1 score.
"After Jeff's goal we were able to keep the pressure on," said head coach Dr. Dave Masur. "We took some good shots in the last 10 minutes, but we just could not get the equalizer."
Virginia Tech (3-1-0) tested Red Storm keeper Neal Kitson early as Kitson had three saves by the 21st minute. However, the Hokies took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute when Marcus Reed tallied his first goal of the season after a pass from Robert Edmans. Ryan Soroka took the Red Storm's first shot on goal in the 34th minute, but was denied. Kitson, meanwhile, made four saves in the opening half of action.
The Hokies extended the lead shortly into the second half when Edmans was able to beat Kitson in the 59th minute. The Red Storm tested Virginia Tech's keeper, Brendan Dunn, much more in the second half. Dunn, however, was up to the challenge as he made six second half saves.
In the 77th minute, the Red Storm beat Dunn to make it a 2-1 game. After a Michael Mingione cross, Stepan took a pass from Alex Paszek and converted it for his first goal of the season. In the final 10 minutes Paszek had two shots saved by Dunn, while Nelson Becerra and Mingione were each stopped once. With just over three minutes to play Alexandre Ivo gave the Red Storm one more chance, but his shot was wide of the goal.
Kitson made a career high six saves in goal for St. John's (1-2-1).
The Red Storm plays host to Seton Hall on September 13. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Belson Stadium.
