St. John’s and Seton Hall Play to Scoreless Draw

Saturday, October 16

Queens, N.Y. (Belson Stadium)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

8-3-2, 3-1-2BE

Seton Hall

5-5-3, 1-4-1BE

Seton Hall

St. John's

10/16/2021 10:35:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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Local rivals log 110 scoreless minutes at Belson Stadium on Saturday night

By: Andrew O'Connell

QUEENS, N.Y. – Despite outplaying the Pirates for a majority of regulation and thoroughly dominating the overtime periods, the St. John's men's soccer team was only able to manage a scoreless draw against Seton Hall on Saturday night at Belson Stadium.

St. John's (8-3-2, 3-1-2 BIG EAST) outshot the Pirates, 16-5, on the evening, including an 11-3 advantage in shots after halftime and a 4-0 edge in the extra frames. The Red Storm also earned seven corners to Seton Hall's three.

The Pirates (5-5-3, 1-4-1 BIG EAST) played the final 23:06 of the game with only 10 men, as Eden O'Leary was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the night late in regulation.

Luka Gavran made two saves to record his eighth clean sheet of the campaign. The redshirt junior became the first St. John's keeper to log eight or more shutouts in a season since Andrew Withers in 2017 and moved into the top 10 on the Red Storm's single-season record list in that category. Lucas Bartlett, Matt Chandler and Sanoussi Sangary logged the full 110 minutes on the backline. Jared Juleau and Brandon Knapp also played all 110 minutes in the midfield.

Knapp, Atila Ashrafi and Wesley Leggett recorded a team-high three shots apiece.

Saturday marked the Red Storm's fourth straight game going into overtime. Both of Saturday's overtime periods, as well as the end of regulation, were contested in a driving rain.

St. John's registered the game's first quality scoring chance in the 11th minute, as Leggett and Einar Lye both had space in front, but were unable to control possession of a bouncing ball.

Seton Hall's best opportunity of the contest came off a corner kick in the 24th minute, as O'Leary headed a ball on target that was flicked off the line by Juleau for a team save.

St. John's quickly returned to the front foot after the Pirates scoring chance, as Leggett sent a shot high in the 26th before Ashrafi missed left in the 38th minute.

In the 40th minute, Bartlett headed down a free kick toward the bottom left corner of the cage, but Andreas Nota came up with the stop for Seton Hall. A free kick from just outside the left edge of the box led to another header opportunity in the 43rd, this time from Chandler, but the senior sent it just wide of the far-side post to send both teams into the locker room scoreless.

Both teams tallied a pair of shots in the opening 25 minutes of second-half action before the field tilted heavily in favor of the Red Storm. After coming into the match at halftime, Micaah Garnette made several great runs that nearly resulted in a go-ahead goal for the home side, including a shot in the 77th minute that just missed the upper 90.

Already on the front foot, the Red Storm picked up another boost when O'Leary was sent off in the 87th. In the 92nd minute, Knapp blasted a shot from distance that rang off the cross bar. Just about eight minutes later, Knapp dented the woodwork again, this time missing his target from just beyond the top of the six-yard box.

In the second overtime period, Knapp played a long ball for Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau down the right side, but the sophomore was unable to find a streaking Leggett on the ensuing cross.

With five minutes to play, Leggett drew a foul just outside the left edge of the box to set up a dangerous free kick for Knapp, but Seton Hall cleared and set up a Red Storm corner. The shorthanded Pirates managed to clear the box once again on the ensuing set piece.

St. John's will return to action on Wednesday when it travels to Washington to take on the top-ranked Hoyas at Shaw Field. Kick-off is set for 2 p.m. on the BIG EAST Digital Network.