St. John's Drops First BIG EAST Game against No. 8 Creighton, 3-1

Saturday, October 6

Queens, N.Y. (Belson Stadium)

7:00 P.M.

St. John's University

(6-4-1, 2-1-1BE)

No. 8 Creighton

(8-2-1 4-0-0BE)

Creighton

St. John's

St. John's Drops First BIG EAST Game against No. 8 Creighton, 3-1

10/6/2018 10:52:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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Tani Oluwaseyi scores Johnnies’ lone goal of the evening

By: Victoria Lanza

Despite scoring first on the evening, the St. John's men's soccer team suffered its first loss of the conference season, 3-1, against nationally ranked Creighton on Saturday night at Belson Stadium.

Freshman Tani Oluwaseyi recorded his third goal of the season for the Red Storm in the 49th minute off of assists from both Mauricio Rivas and Skage Simonsen. Oluwaseyi has now tallied a total eight points over his rookie campaign.

Despite the loss, senior goalkeeper Lenny Wilson recorded a season-high seven saves against a potent Creighton offense.

The Bluejays controlled the pace over the opening stanza, registering the game's first three shots, including a Joel Rydstrand free kick in the sixth minute. However Wilson made a dive for the ball, denying the Bluejays an opportunity to score. Creighton continued to control the possession during the first 45 minutes, not allowing a shot from the Red Strom as the two programs entered the intermission knotted at zero.

St. John's wasted no time coming out of the break, as Oluwaseyi found the back of the net just four minutes into the second half to give the Red Storm a 1-0 lead. The sequence began with a cross pass from Simonsen that arched over the defensive wall to Rivas who headed the ball down to an open Oluwaseyi. The Mississauga, Ontario, native rocketed a shot from just inside the 18 yard box to the back of the net, giving St. John's the lead.

Creighton's Kuba Polat evened the match at, 1-1, as he converted on a penalty kick in the 55th minute.

Just five minutes later, Creighton's Ziyad Fares and St. John's Johan Aquilon were assessed red cards, forcing both teams to play a man down. Less than four minutes after the first pair of ejections, Red Storm's Brandon Duarte received his second yellow card, which resulted in a red card and forced St. John's to play with nine men on the pitch for the final 27 minutes of regulation.

The Bluejays used the man advantage and scored their second and third goals over a three-minute span and claim a 3-1 victory.

St. John's will return to action on Tuesday night when the team welcomes Princeton to Belson Stadium for a 7 p.m. contest with the Tigers.