No. 7 St. John’s Looks to Stay Perfect in Conference at Creighton

Saturday, October 19

Omaha, Neb. (Morrison Stadium)

8 p.m. ET

St. John's University

Creighton

No. 7 St. John’s Looks to Stay Perfect in Conference at Creighton

10/18/2019 2:09:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Watch Live Stats Game Notes (PDF)

Red Storm will look for its first ever win in Omaha

By: Andrew O'Connell

QUEENS, N.Y. (Oct. 18, 2019) – Sitting atop the BIG EAST standings following a 4-0-0 start to conference play, the St. John's men's soccer team will look to stay perfect in league action when it travels to Creighton for a Saturday night contest at Morrison Stadium.

The Johnnies (11-1-0, 4-0-0 BIG EAST) will look to carry over the momentum from their lopsided win at Belson Stadium last Saturday night when they downed Villanova, 4-0, in front of more than 1,100 fans. Coming into the contest, the Wildcats had allowed just three goals in 11 games and ranked third nationally in goals against average (0.26). Einar Lye scored twice on the evening while Skage Simonsen and Jared Juleau chipped in a goal apiece. Tani Oluwaseyi, who also scored the game-winner in the Red Storm's 1-0 victory against Temple, assisted on two of those tallies to earn a spot on Monday's BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll. Brandon Duarte, who assisted on the team's third goal of the game, also garnered recognition from the league, becoming the fourth different St. John's player in just seven opportunities this season to be named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week.

Four games into the BIG EAST slate, St. John's has been the conference's most productive side by a wide margin. In addition to being the only BIG EAST team with an unblemished record in league play, the Johnnies have scored more than twice as many goals (12) as any team in the conference besides Georgetown (7). The Red Storm and the Hoyas have surrendered just one goal apiece in conference play, and aside from Creighton (2), no other team has allowed fewer than four.

St. John's, which checked in at no. 2 in the first NCAA RPI released on Monday, climbed to no. 7 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll this week, matching its highest ranking since 2013. The last time the Red Storm was ranked higher than seventh nationally occurred during the College Cup campaign of 2008, when the Johnnies entered the top five on Sept. 16 and never left, rising as high as no. 2 in the nation before reaching the national semifinal for the fourth time in program history. Through games played on Wednesday, St. John's ranks fifth nationally in team goals against average (0.40) and 11th in goals per game. The Johnnies are one of only two teams alongside Missouri State to rank inside the top five in goals against average and the top 15 in goals scored per game.

The Red Storm's 11-1-0 start is the best for the program since 1993, when the Johnnies won 13 of their first 14 contests in the midst of a 21-game unbeaten streak to begin the campaign. Since that monumental start 26 years ago, the Red Storm has claimed seven BIG EAST titles, been to 18 NCAA Tournaments, advanced to four College Cups and won a national championship.

Having received votes in all but two editions of the United Soccer Coaches poll this season, Creighton enters the weekend with a record of 6-4-1, including a 2-2-0 mark in league play. The Bluejays, who are 146-26-21 at Morrison Stadium since it opened in 2003, are coming off consecutive 1-0 road losses to Seton Hall and Xavier.

The Bluejays are led offensively by senior midfielder Luke Haakenson, who has scored four of the team's 16 goals on the season. The Maple Grove, Minn., native has also dished out two assists, just one off the team lead of three held by classmate Yudai Tashiro.

Goalkeeper Paul Kruse, a Second Team All-BIG EAST selection a season ago, has played all 360 minutes of conference play for the Bluejays, allowing just two goals and compiling an .867 save percentage over that stretch.

St. John's and Creighton will meet for the 11th time in the history of the two programs when they square off on Saturday night in Omaha. The Red Storm and the Bluejays have met eight times as conference foes with Creighton holding a 4-1-2 edge in those matches.

Prior to becoming BIG EAST foes for the 2013 season, the Johnnies and Bluejays met three times, all in the NCAA Round of 16 or later, beginning with a St. John's victory in the national semifinal en route to the 1996 national title. Six years later, the Bluejays downed St. John's in the round of 16 before the Johnnies enacted a bit of revenge the following year, erasing an early 2-0 deficit to defeat Creighton, 3-2, in the national quarterfinal and earn a spot in the 2003 College Cup.

2003 also marked the last time that St. John's started a BIG EAST campaign 4-0-0 or better, as the eventual BIG EAST Regular Season Champions kicked off conference play with five straight victories.