St. John's University Athletics
Friday, September 21
Cincinnati, Ohio (XU Soccer Complex)
7:00 P.M.
St. John's University
at
Xavier
St. John’s Travels to Xavier for Showdown with Unbeaten Musketeers
9/20/2018 12:10:00 PM | Men's Soccer
The Red Storm will look for its second-straight win to kick off BIG EAST play
After kicking off BIG EAST action with a 1-0 win over Seton Hall on Saturday night at Belson Stadium, the St. John's men's soccer team will look to begin conference play 2-0-0 for the second-straight year, traveling to Cincinnati for a Friday night showdown with the Xavier Musketeers.
The contest will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network, available on FOXSportsGO.com and the FOX Sports Mobile app. Mike Schmaltz will be on the call from The Queen City.
Matt Forster scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season in the Red Storm's victory over the Pirates, moving the Red Storm's unbeaten streak in BIG EAST openers to four. The junior midfielder is currently locked in a five-way tie atop of the conference leaderboard for goals and has already set a new season-long career-high just seven games into the 2018 campaign.
For his efforts against Seton Hall, Lenny Wilson was rewarded with his first career recognition from the BIG EAST, finding a spot on the conference's weekly honor roll. The senior goalkeeper from Aberdeen, Scotland, made a season-high five saves, recording his second shutout in as many tries after blanking Temple on Sept. 1. The Hartwick transfer leads the team and ranks fourth in the conference with a 0.73 goals against average.
With the team's victory over the Pirates on Saturday, the Red Storm continued a statistical trend that could not be any simpler: when the Johnnies score they win. All three of the team's losses have come by way of the shutout while putting at least one goal on the board has yet to result in a falter for the Johnnies.
St. John's continues to sport one of the freshest rosters in the nation, returning just eight players from a team that went 9-7-3 a year ago. Of the Red Storm's 25 total newcomers, 18 are freshmen, giving the Johnnies the second-highest freshman total in the nation behind Gardner Webb, a team with more than 50 student-athletes on its roster. Five players in their first year of college soccer have started all seven contests for the Red Storm: Skage Simonsen, Athit Berg, Johan Aquilon, Tiago Teixeira and Brandon Knapp. With two goals and two assists apiece on the year, Simonsen and classmate Tani Oluwaseyi are tied for the league lead among freshman in that category in addition to ranking second on the team behind Forster.
The Musketeers enter Friday's contest unbeaten on the season, outscoring their opponents by a cumulative 12-3 margin and compiling a record of 3-0-3 in the team's first six contests. All three of the team's draws have come against Power Five opponents, playing Northwestern, Oregon State and No. 6 Kentucky to scoreless draws.
Senior midfielder Simon Hestnes leads the Musketeers offensively, tallying four goals and three assists for a BIG EAST-best 11 points through six games. Grad student Matt Nance in one of two players in the league with four assists on the year, while redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Zachary Nelson ranks third in the conference with a 0.50 goals against average.
Last year, St. John's and Xavier met under similar circumstances. In 2017, both St. John's and Xavier entered their matchup on Sept. 23 with 1-0-0 BIG EAST records, coming off wins over Seton Hall and Georgetown, respectively. This past Saturday, the Red Storm handled the Pirates at home while Xavier erased a second half deficit in D.C. to defeat the Hoyas, 3-2. Last season, Xavier was riding a seven-match unbeaten streak coming into its meeting with the Red Storm, including a positive result against a nationally ranked Kentucky team. This year, the Musketeers are undefeated in their last six, highlighted by a scoreless draw against the No. 6 Wildcats last Tuesday in Cincinnati. Last season at Belson Stadium, Jack Shearer scored twice in the first half before Filippo Ricupati added another tally, leading the Red Storm to a 3-0 win over RV/No. 19 Xavier. Much like last year, the Musketeers just recently received their first national ranking of the year, checking in at no. 20 in the College Soccer News poll.
Overall, St. John's is 2-3-1 all-time against Xavier, including a 1-3-1 mark since the Musketeers joined the BIG EAST prior to the start of the 2013 season.
The contest will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network, available on FOXSportsGO.com and the FOX Sports Mobile app. Mike Schmaltz will be on the call from The Queen City.
Matt Forster scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season in the Red Storm's victory over the Pirates, moving the Red Storm's unbeaten streak in BIG EAST openers to four. The junior midfielder is currently locked in a five-way tie atop of the conference leaderboard for goals and has already set a new season-long career-high just seven games into the 2018 campaign.
For his efforts against Seton Hall, Lenny Wilson was rewarded with his first career recognition from the BIG EAST, finding a spot on the conference's weekly honor roll. The senior goalkeeper from Aberdeen, Scotland, made a season-high five saves, recording his second shutout in as many tries after blanking Temple on Sept. 1. The Hartwick transfer leads the team and ranks fourth in the conference with a 0.73 goals against average.
With the team's victory over the Pirates on Saturday, the Red Storm continued a statistical trend that could not be any simpler: when the Johnnies score they win. All three of the team's losses have come by way of the shutout while putting at least one goal on the board has yet to result in a falter for the Johnnies.
St. John's continues to sport one of the freshest rosters in the nation, returning just eight players from a team that went 9-7-3 a year ago. Of the Red Storm's 25 total newcomers, 18 are freshmen, giving the Johnnies the second-highest freshman total in the nation behind Gardner Webb, a team with more than 50 student-athletes on its roster. Five players in their first year of college soccer have started all seven contests for the Red Storm: Skage Simonsen, Athit Berg, Johan Aquilon, Tiago Teixeira and Brandon Knapp. With two goals and two assists apiece on the year, Simonsen and classmate Tani Oluwaseyi are tied for the league lead among freshman in that category in addition to ranking second on the team behind Forster.
The Musketeers enter Friday's contest unbeaten on the season, outscoring their opponents by a cumulative 12-3 margin and compiling a record of 3-0-3 in the team's first six contests. All three of the team's draws have come against Power Five opponents, playing Northwestern, Oregon State and No. 6 Kentucky to scoreless draws.
Senior midfielder Simon Hestnes leads the Musketeers offensively, tallying four goals and three assists for a BIG EAST-best 11 points through six games. Grad student Matt Nance in one of two players in the league with four assists on the year, while redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Zachary Nelson ranks third in the conference with a 0.50 goals against average.
Last year, St. John's and Xavier met under similar circumstances. In 2017, both St. John's and Xavier entered their matchup on Sept. 23 with 1-0-0 BIG EAST records, coming off wins over Seton Hall and Georgetown, respectively. This past Saturday, the Red Storm handled the Pirates at home while Xavier erased a second half deficit in D.C. to defeat the Hoyas, 3-2. Last season, Xavier was riding a seven-match unbeaten streak coming into its meeting with the Red Storm, including a positive result against a nationally ranked Kentucky team. This year, the Musketeers are undefeated in their last six, highlighted by a scoreless draw against the No. 6 Wildcats last Tuesday in Cincinnati. Last season at Belson Stadium, Jack Shearer scored twice in the first half before Filippo Ricupati added another tally, leading the Red Storm to a 3-0 win over RV/No. 19 Xavier. Much like last year, the Musketeers just recently received their first national ranking of the year, checking in at no. 20 in the College Soccer News poll.
Overall, St. John's is 2-3-1 all-time against Xavier, including a 1-3-1 mark since the Musketeers joined the BIG EAST prior to the start of the 2013 season.
Players Mentioned
Defender
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder/Defender
/ Men's Soccer
Forward/Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Forward
/ Men's Soccer
Forward
/ Men's Soccer
Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Defender/Midfielder
/ Men's Soccer
Goalkeeper
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