St. John’s Resumes BIG EAST Play at Marquette

Saturday, October 13

Milwaukee, Wis. (Valley Fields)

8:00 P.M.

St. John's University

Marquette

10/12/2018 11:28:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Watch Live Stats Game Notes (PDF)

Red Storm and Golden Eagles to meet at 8 p.m. on Saturday

By: Andrew O'Connell

After wrapping up a four-game homestand on Tuesday night, the St. John's men's soccer team will hit the road for the first time in three weeks, traveling to Milwaukee for a Saturday night showdown with Marquette. The game will be streamed live on GoMarquette.com beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

St. John's will look to break out of a three-way tie for third place in the conference standings entering the second half of BIG EAST play. The Johnnies (6-5-1, 2-1-1) are currently knotted with Georgetown and Xavier in third, two points behind Providence in second and five points behind first-place Creighton at 4-0. Marquette will also be looking to create some separation in the conference standings, as the Golden Eagles are part of three-way tie with DePaul and Seton Hall for the sixth spot in the league ledger. The top six teams in the final BIG EAST standings qualify for the conference tournament in November.

The Johnnies will look to snap a two-game skid, their first such streak of the season, when they head to Milwaukee this weekend. The Red Storm suffered its first BIG EAST loss of the year last Saturday night at the hands of No. 8 Creighton before enduring a 1-0 overtime loss at home to Princeton on Tuesday. In that matchup with the Tigers, the Red Storm was playing without the services of four everyday starters.

Tuesday also marked the first time this season that the Red Storm went to overtime and came out on the losing end of a decision. The Johnnies had gone to overtime three times before Tuesday's contest with the Tigers, notching non-conference wins over Temple and Fairfield before playing Xavier to a scoreless draw in their second BIG EAST game of the season. St. John's and Marquette have a history of giving fans free soccer, as five of the eight matches played between the two schools have gone to double overtime.

Arguably one of the most dynamic freshman talents in the nation let alone the BIG EAST, Tani Oluwaseyi has elevated his game as of late for the Johnnies. The Mississauga, Ont., native netted his third goal of the season in the Red Storm's loss to Creighton before creating two stellar scoring chances against Princeton in 54 minutes of action, his second-highest total of the season in terms of playing time. Oluwaseyi forms half of one of the most dangerous young scoring combos in the nation alongside classmate Skage Simonsen. Simonsen, who hails from Norway, leads the league's rookies in terms of points (11) and is one of just two BIG EAST freshmen alongside Seton Hall's CJ Tibbling to have scored four goals on the year.

Marquette enters Saturday's match on the heels of a tough three-week stretch, going 0-4-1 over its last five games since dominating then-No. 13 Villanova, 3-0, in the team's BIG EAST opener on Sept. 15. The Golden Eagles have not found the back of the net since a 2-1 loss to Milwaukee on Sept. 19 and have been outscored 4-0 in their last four matches.

The Golden Eagles sport one of the conference's top netminders in Luis Barraza. The senior from Santa Teresa, N.M., leads the league and ranks fifth nationally in save percentage at .857 while 0.85 goals against average is good enough for third in the BIG EAST.

St. John's and Marquette have met eight times since the Golden Eagles joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2005 season. The Red Storm won the first two decisions between the teams but has gone 0-3-3 since a double overtime win against the Golden Eagles on Sept. 21, 2008. Each of the last three and four of the last five meetings between St. John's and Marquette have gone to double overtime.