St. John’s Tops Villanova, 2-1, in Regular Season Finale

Thursday, October 28

Queens, N.Y. (Belson Stadium)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

10-5-2, 6-3-1

Villanova University

7-11-0, 1-9-0

Villanova

St. John's (NY)

St. John’s Tops Villanova, 2-1, in Regular Season Finale

10/28/2021 10:14:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

Kajan and Gordon find the back of the net for the Red Storm

Behind goals from Zsani Kajan and Nicole Gordon, the St. John's women's soccer team came away with its fourth-straight win as the Johnnies defeated Villanova, 2-1, at Belson Stadium on Thursday night.

St. John's (10-5-2, 6-3-1 BIG EAST), who secured the four seed in the tournament with the result, will host Providence (10-5-3, 5-3-2 BIG EAST) in first round action on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Queens. UConn (9-7-1, 5-4-1 BIG EAST) will head to Butler (14-3-1, 7-2-1 BIG EAST) in the other opening round matchup.

Kajan and Gordon scored the goals for St. John's, striking in the 54th and 60th minutes, respectively. Kajan, who led the nation in scoring entering Thursday's match, picked up her 16th goal of the campaign against the Wildcats. The Budapest, Hungary, native has now found the back of the net 44 times over her Red Storm career. Gordon, the sophomore forward from Amityville, N.Y., notched her second tally of the season.

Kajan also picked up an assist on Gordon's goal, which proved to be the game winner for St. John's. Two other Johnnies logged helpers on the evening, as Nicole Multer also recorded an assist on Gordon's goal. Jessica Garziano, the Johnnies' leading facilitator entering the match, registered her eighth assist of the season on Kajan's goal.

St. John's outshot Villanova by a wide margin, tallying 15 chances to the Wildcats' five.

The Johnnies controlled possession for a majority of the opening half, outshooting Villanova, 10-4. The Red Storm also earned six corners, twice as many as the Wildcats.

Kajan broke through in the 54th minute with the game's first goal. Garziano began the sequence with a through ball intended for Kajan. Anticipating the feed, the Budapest, Hungary, native took possession before rocketing a shot to the upper right side of the cage to put St. John's on the board, 1-0.

Just over five minutes later, the Johnnies took a two-goal lead, as Gordon found the back of the net for St. John's. The play began as Kajan sent a quick pass up to Gordon, who corralled the ball inside. The sophomore forward then powered a right-footed strike to the left corner of the cage to give the Red Storm the two-goal advantage.

With just a little over four minutes to play in regulation, Villanova's Chloe O'Neill found the back of the net to pull the score within one, 2-1. However, that was as close as the Wildcats would get as the Red Storm secured the victory.

St. John's returns to action on Sunday afternoon, welcoming the Providence to Belson Stadium for the Quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Tournament. The Johnnies and the Friars are set to kick off at 1 p.m.