St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
6-6-2, 3-1-1BIG EAS
DePaul
4-9-2, 1-4-1BIG EAS
St. John's Downs DePaul, 1-0
10/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
CHICAGO - Led by a brilliant effort between the pipes from redshirt junior Andrew Withers, the St. John's men's soccer team needed just one goal to claim its third conference win of the season, downing DePaul, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon at Wish Field.
Withers tallied five saves on the day, including three highlight-reel stops in the latter stanza. The Wellington, New Zealand, native now has six shutouts on the season, the most by a St. John's keeper since Rafael Diaz recorded nine in 2013. Already among the national leaders in save percentage and goals against average, Withers improved upon both of those metrics on Saturday, raising the former to .841 and lowering the latter to 0.69.
"It was a really gutsy effort," said Head Coach Dr. Dave Masur. "I thought that our guys scrapped really well, especially in the second half, the back line did a good job of hanging in there and limiting their options. Withers made a few big saves on a couple of scuffles in front of the goal."
Jack Shearer found the back of the net for the third time this season, moving him into a tie with Alistair Johnston for the team lead in points with nine (three goals, three assists). All three of Shearer's markers have come in BIG EAST victories for the Red Storm.
Matt Forster picked up an assist on Shearer's goal, undertaking a series of clever plays in traffic that led to the tally.
With the win, the Red Storm (6-6-2, 3-2-1 BIG EAST) greatly helped its cause in the quest to lock up a BIG EAST Tournament berth, potentially breaking free of a three-way tie for third place in the standings with Marquette and Creighton. Both of those teams will be in action later tonight at 7 p.m., as the Golden Eagles take on Xavier and the Bluejays face off against Providence.
"As most of the BIG EAST teams know, BIG EAST wins are tough to come by," commented Masur when asked about the remainder of the conference schedule. "You have to battle every game and it'll be no different whether we're home or away, all the games are going to be really challenging. We have some really good athletes in our conference and some great coaches."
The Red Storm struck in just the eighth minute, as a sequence filled with relentless offensive pressure led to a tally for Shearer. Harry Cooksley began the play in the middle of the field, sending a ball out to the left side for a streaking Forster. DePaul keeper Quentin Low tried to challenge the sophomore, who maneuvered past his effort and sent a shot toward the cage that was blocked by a defender. Forster, however, corralled the rebound and deftly touched it in front to a wide-open Shearer, who buried it to give the Johnnies the early lead.
The Red Storm narrowly missed extending their advantage to a pair on a similar sequence 20 minutes later, but Johnston's cross missed the foot of Shearer.
Despite nine corner kicks and a pair of quality chances from the Blue Demons (4-9-2, 1-4-1 BIG EAST) in the opening 45 minutes, the Red Storm controlled momentum for much of the period and took a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
The Blue Demons would not go quietly, firing off six shots in the final 17 minutes. All of their chances, however, were turned aside by the St. John's defensive unit.
The Red Storm begins a two-game homestand on Wednesday, welcoming Villanova to Belson Stadium to a 7 p.m. tilt.
Team Stats
SHEARER, Jack (3)
Assisted By: FORSTER, Matt
Open net, #15's shot deflects off DePaul
7:20
