St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm to Host Temple on Saturday Night
9/8/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
QUEENS, N.Y. - Midway through its longest homestand of the season, the St. John's men's soccer team will play host to the Owls of Temple University on Saturday night at Belson Stadium. First kick is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Saturday's match will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN App. Jared Lee Smith will handle play-by-play duties, while Sal Rosamilia will provide color commentary.
St. John's enters the weekend on the heels of a thrilling affair with local rival Hofstra on Tuesday night, as the two sides played to an eventful scoreless draw in Queens. Trailing in shots by an 8-1 margin at the half, the Red Storm regrouped and turned on the afterburners in the latter stanza, outshooting the Pride 17-5 and controlling possession for a majority of the period. The Johnnies also registered a number of quality chances in the two overtimes, but failed to find the back of the net.
Andrew Withers continued his standout play between the pipes against the Pride, recording his second clean sheet of the year and lowering his goals against average to 0.47 on the season. Currently ranked 23rd nationally in GAA, Withers also finds himself inside the top 20 in save percentage, turning away 88.9 percent opponents' of tries on target through four games. After the draw on Tuesday, Head Coach Dr. Dave Masur credited Withers with keeping the Red Storm in the contest during a less-than-stellar opening stanza.
Having only surrendered two tallies in the team's first four contests, the Red Storm ranks second in the BIG EAST in goals allowed per game at 0.50. Only Georgetown, who has ceded just one goal in four matches, sports a better average than the Red Storm. To make this metric even more impressive, the Red Storm has been missing at least one player from its starting back line in each of the last three contests due to injury (including a pair against Fordham), while senior Jordan Shankle was limited in the season-opener.
Temple comes to Queens with a record of 1-2-1, having most recently lost in overtime to Rider on Sunday by a score of 1-0. The Owls lone win of the season came against a local BIG EAST opponent, downing Villanova, 1-0, in their second contest of the season on August 29. Temple's three goals in 2017 have come from three different players, as Thibault Candia, Joonas Jokinen and Mark Grasela have all found the back of the net once on the campaign.
Saturday night will mark the first ever meeting between St. John's and Temple.
