No. 9 St. John’s Erases Deficit, Tops No. 19 Xavier, 3-1

Friday, September 20

Queens, N.Y. (Belson Stadium)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

7-0-0, 1-0-0

No. 19 Xavier

3-2-1, 0-1-0

Xavier

St. John's

Petridis celebrates his first goal, the eventual game-winner.

No. 9 St. John’s Erases Deficit, Tops No. 19 Xavier, 3-1

9/20/2019 10:51:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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Red Storm improves to 7-0-0, extends best start in program history

By: Andrew O'Connell

QUEENS, N.Y. (Sept. 20, 2019) – Trailing for the first time this season after ceding a 13^th minute goal to No. 19 Xavier, the No. 9 St. John's men's soccer team mounted a furious second-half comeback to down the Musketeers, 3-1, and stay undefeated at Belson Stadium on Friday night.

Senior midfielder Niko Petridis, who had recorded two goals and two assists in the team's last three games heading into Friday, scored two of the Red Storm's goals, including the game-winner, and assisted on the third. The Connecticut transfer now leads the team with four goals on the season and is tied for the team lead in assists with three.

Brandon Duarte netted the Red Storm's first goal of the evening, as the senior headed home his first of the campaign off a perfectly placed corner kick from Petridis in the 57^th. Duarte became the 10^th different member of the Red Storm to score a goal this season.

Ranked inside the top 10 for the first time since 2013, St. John's is now 7-0-0 on the year, extending the best start in school history. The win over the 19^th ranked Musketeers marked the Red Storm's first ranked victory of the season. St. John's has now claimed at least one game against a ranked foe in each of the last four campaigns.

"The Xavier keeper made some great saves in the first half and we knew that if we kept plugging away things would hopefully go our way," said Dr. Dave Masur after winning his 415^th career game. "You have to make things go your way, you have to earn it and keep your head up and keep working. Our team's going to have to continue to learn how to play when we're down, to face adversity and to have character. Today was a good example of that and it was nice to see us come out on top."

Despite the early deficit, St. John's outshot the Musketeers, 9-3, in the first half and 21-5 on the match overall. Xavier (3-2-1, 0-1-0) had earned results this season against the likes of No. 3 Akron and No. 17 Kentucky.

1,653 fans packed Belson Stadium on Friday night, the Red Storm's highest attendance figure at home since Oct. 4, 2014.

"The fans were unbelievable tonight," said Petridis. "Right from the start we could hear them and they deserve it. We're trying to give them everything we can and we hope that they can continue to come throughout the year to support us."

St. John's recorded the game's first scoring chance in the 10^th minute, as Matt Forster managed to fire off a shot through contact in the box, but the try went just wide. Forster was making his first appearance in two weeks after suffering an ankle injury against Manhattan.

Just two minutes later, Xavier tallied the evening's first goal, as Samson Sergi headed a throw-in forward in the box to Karsen Henderlong, who slipped one into the lower right corner of the cage.

St. John's continued to bring relentless pressure, but could not seem to break through. At the break, St. John's was outshooting Xavier by a 9-3 margin, but five saves from Matthew Rosenberg helped the Musketeers hang onto a 1-0 edge.

On the other side of the intermission, the Red Storm continued to dominate possession and pepper Rosenberg with chances. In the 47^th minute, Tani Oluwaseyi just missed wide left and Rosenberg came up with a few more terrific stops in the 50^th and 56^th minutes, temporarily keeping St. John's off the board.

St. John's finally found the back of the net in the 57^th, as Petridis sent a perfect corner kick to the far post for Duarte, who headed it past Rosenberg and pulled the Red Storm even.

Following three more close calls for the Johnnies over the next 10 minutes, Petridis came away with a brilliant individual effort to break the deadlock. After causing a turnover just shy of midfield, Petridis dribble to the top of the box and sent a brilliant right-footed strike to the lower-left hand corner of the cage, putting St. John's ahead, 2-1.

Petridis put the icing of the cake for St. John's in the 87^th, winning a 50-50 ball on the other side of midfield before taking it the whole way himself and beating Rosenberg for the second time.

St. John's has now scored three or more goals in four of its seven wins this season. Prior to Friday night, the Red Storm had not recorded four three-goal games in a season since 2012.

After defending its home field on Friday against a nationally ranked foe, St. John's will travel to one of the nation's toughest road environments on Monday, facing off against the defending national champion Maryland Terrapins in College Park. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. on BTN Plus.