St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Towson
St. John's Downs Towson, 1-0
8/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
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QUEENS, N.Y. - Shelby Halasz netted the lone goal of the contest in the 60th minute, registering the game-winning tally in a convincing 1-0 win for the Red Storm over Towson on Sunday evening at Belson Stadium.
With the score tied 0-0 at the break, the Red Storm (2-0-0) came out blazing to begin the second half, starting an offensive frenzy that resulted in Halasz's tally with just under 15 minutes gone in the period.
"It's really satisfying as a coach because they respond to the feedback that we give them at halftime and there's so much pride that they have in the uniform," said Head Coach Ian Stone in reference to his team's play at the beginning of the second half. "If we can get the combination of players right, which I thought we did in that period, then it's going to be very difficult to play against us, because not only are we a good possession team, but we now defend and press pretty well, which was pretty much the story of that 10 minutes. They couldn't get out of their half and we just kept creating chance after chance."
After outshooting the Tigers (0-2-0) by a 6-2 margin in the opening stanza, the Red Storm revved up its intensity in the opening minutes of the latter period, registering six shots to Towson's zero in the lead up to Halasz's goal. St. John's outshot Towson by a 12-3 margin for the second half as a whole and 18-5 on the game.
Halasz's goal was one for the highlight reel, as Rachel Daly found her teammate with a brilliant pass through traffic at the top of the box. Halasz then played the ball back to her left foot and sent it screaming to the top right corner of the cage, just out of the reach of Towson goalkeeper Taylor Sebolao.
Despite drawing multiple defenders and receiving more than her fair share of contact all night, Daly still managed to get off eight shots, giving her 198 for her career and sole possession of first place on the St. John's career list in that category.
Graduate student Katie DeVault made the first start of her St. John's career in net, registering two saves en route to a shutout. Three Red Storm defenders (Georgia Kearney-Perry, Mikhaila Martinov and Jesse Schaefer) logged a full 90 minutes, helping hold the Tigers to just five shot attempts on the contest. Emily Cubbage, Allie Moar, Morgan Tinari and Anna Maria Baldursdottir were also critical in the Red Storm's second-consecutive shutout effort.
Miranda Haraughty, who missed the entire 2014 season due to an injury, saw her first game action in nearly two years on Sunday, logging one scoring chance in 18 minutes.
Shea Connors continued to impress for the Red Storm, playing several balls into the box that resulted in scoring chances.
The Red Storm returns to action on Friday night, heading to Syracuse for a 7 p.m. match with its former BIG EAST rival.
