St. John’s Sinks Marquette, 4-0, on Homecoming Weekend

Saturday, October 23

Queens, N.Y. (Belson Stadium)

5 p.m.

St. John's University

9-4-2, 4-2-2BE

Marquette

6-8-1, 3-5-1BE

Marquette

St. John's

St. John’s Sinks Marquette, 4-0, on Homecoming Weekend

10/23/2021 8:03:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Red Storm controls game from start to finish to pick up three crucial points

By: Andrew O'Connell

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's men's soccer team dominated Marquette from opening kick-off to final whistle on Saturday night, defeating the Golden Eagles by a score of 4-0 at Belson Stadium.

Four different Johnnies found the back of the net on Saturday night, as the Red Storm downed the Marquette at home for the first time since 2005. Lucas Bartlett scored the game-winner, his team leading fifth goal of the season, in the 25^th minute. Wesley Leggett added another tally in the 40^th minute before Adrian Roseth and Einar Lye struck just seven minutes apart from one another in the second half. Lye also tallied two assists while Jared Juleau and Micaah Garnette each added single helpers. Lye has now recorded four or more points in a single game four times in his St. John's career.

Redshirt junior goalkeeper Luka Gavran made two saves for his NCAA-leading ninth clean sheet of the season. The Hamilton, Ont., product, who lowered his season-long goal against average to 0.57, has become the first St. John's netminder since Rafael Diaz in 2013 to log nine solo shutouts in a single campaign.

St. John's (9-4-2, 4-2-2 BIG EAST) outshot Marquette (6-8-1, 3-5-1 BIG EAST) by a lopsided 18-5 margin including a 5-2 edge in shots on goal. The Red Storm also earned nine corner kicks to the Golden Eagles' two.

Each of the last three meetings between Marquette and St. John's have ended with a final score of 4-0. The Golden Eagles took a 4-0 victory in Milwaukee in 2018 before the Johnnies returned the favor with a 4-0 win in 2019 at Valley Fields.

The Red Storm thoroughly controlled the possession battle in the early going before breaking through in the 25^th minute. Taking their fifth corner kick of the game already to that point, the Johnnies benefitted from a perfectly placed Juleau in-swinger that found the head of Bartlett for the graduate student's fifth goal of the season. The tally would prove to be his third game-winner of the campaign.

Less than 15 minutes later, some relentless Red Storm pressure led to another marker with just over five minutes to play in the opening half. After his initial cross from the right side was blocked, Garnette regained control of the ball on the flank before sending it to Lye near the top of the box. Lye then played a right-footed ball in toward Leggett at the top of the six before the junior forward headed into the lower right-hand corner of the cage.

Following four Marquette shots in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, including two that required diving saves from Gavran, the Red Storm put to bed any hopes of a Golden Eagles comeback with goals in the 65^th and 72^nd minutes.

The first of those goals began with Lye near midfield, as he possessed before playing a ball down the left flank for his countryman Roseth. The Wofford transfer dribbled toward the net before tucking a right-footed rocket just inside the post, extending the Red Storm lead to three with his first goal as a Johnnie.

Just a few minutes later, Lye found an open look in front following a beautiful pair of precision passes from Garnette and Johan Aquilon. Lye's initial try rang off the right post, but he persisted on the rebound and buried it into the back of the net.

St. John's has two regular season games remaining, as the team will travel to DePaul next Saturday afternoon before hosting Butler for Senior Night at Belson Stadium on Nov. 3. Both matches will be broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network.