No. 12 St. John’s Stays Perfect in BIG EAST Play with 4-0 Rout of Marquette

Friday, October 4

Milwaukee, Wis. (Valley Fields)

8 p.m. ET

St. John's University

9-1-0, 3-0-0

Marquette

4-5-1, 1-2-0

St. John's

Marquette

Tani Oluwaseyi took five of the team's 21 shots. Xavier had just five total shots all evening.

No. 12 St. John’s Stays Perfect in BIG EAST Play with 4-0 Rout of Marquette

10/4/2019 10:49:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bustamante and Ashrafi register first career goals in the win

By: Andrew O'Connell

MILWAUKEE (Oct. 4, 2019) – Closing out a three-game road swing at Marquette on Friday night, the St. John's men's soccer team jumped out to a first-half lead and never looked back, routing the Golden Eagles, 4-0, at Valley Fields.

With the win, the Red Storm improved to 3-0-0 in BIG EAST play for the first time since 2004. The Johnnies' 9-1-0 record marks the program's best start through 10 games since the 2008 team went 8-0-2 en route to a 19-3-3 finish and a spot in the College Cup.

The St. John's win snapped a seven-game winless streak against the Golden Eagles that dated back to 2010. Prior to Friday's four-goal explosion, the Red Storm had not found the back of the net against Marquette since 2010.

Rafael Bustamante and Atila Ashrafi scored their first career collegiate goals on Friday night. Bustamante netted the game-winner in the 35^th before Ashrafi bumped the lead to two 20 minutes later.

Tani Oluwaseyi registered his first career brace with a pair of late insurance goals, scoring in the 62^nd and 88^th minutes. Oluwaseyi bumped his goal total to six on the season, good enough for both the team and conference lead.

Four different Johnnies logged assists on the evening, as Matt Forster and Einar Lye chipped in on the game-winner before Niko Petridis assisted on the second and Skage Simonsen helped on the fourth.

Jan Hoffelner and Luka Gavran tallied two saves apiece to log the team's sixth clean sheet of the season. Hoffelner started the contest and improved to 4-0-0 on the season.

Simonsen recorded the game's first chance in the sixth minute, making a clever move to create separation before sailing a shot over the box.

Marquette (4-5-1, 1-2-0 BIG EAST) countered after the early St. John's opportunity with a pair of shots on goal, but Hoffelner came away with stops on each try.

The Red Storm's first corner of the game yielded immediate results. Forster sent a left-footed ball to the near post for Lye, who tapped it quickly to the top of the box toward a wide-open Bustamante. The junior from Queens blasted a left-footed strike into the top left corner of the cage, putting the Red Storm ahead 1-0.

After staving off a few more Marquette chances, the Red Storm maintained its 1-0 lead heading into the intermission. The Golden Eagles outshot the Johnnies, 6-4, in the opening stanza.

Oluwaseyi nearly put the Red Storm ahead by a pair in the opening two minutes of the second half, but his header was turned aside by Cedrik Stern.

After nearly breaking through in the 48^th, the Johnnies converted a few minutes later in the 55^th. Petridis dribbled down the right sideline before sending a low cross into the box for Ashrafi, who blasted one off the keeper and into the net.

The Johnnies quickly bumped the lead to three in the 62^nd minute, as Oluwaseyi intercepted a pass near midfield and dribbled a few yards before sending a long left-footed chance toward the cage. His shot deflected off the keeper and into back of the net.

Oluwaseyi added one more goal for good measure in the closing minutes of the contest. Simonsen began the sequence on the other side of midfield before threading a ball through traffic toward Oluwaseyi. The sophomore dribbled to space before beating the keeper one-on-one and bumping the Red Storm's lead to four.

After more than two weeks on the road, the Red Storm will return home to Belson Stadium on Tuesday for its non-conference finale against Temple. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN3.