St. John’s Travels to First-Place Villanova on Saturday Afternoon

QUEENS, N.Y. – After seeing its seven-game unbeaten streak come to an end on Wednesday night in Queens, the St. John's men's soccer team will hit the road to take on first-place Villanova on Saturday afternoon at Higgins Soccer Complex.

Following more than 100 minutes of scoreless action at Belson Stadium, Providence's Paulo Lima headed home a corner kick in the 102nd minute to give the No. 25 Friars a 1-0 victory on Wednesday night in a battle of BIG EAST unbeatens. Before falling to Providence, St. John's had gone more than a month without a loss, rattling off six straight wins before a draw at UConn last Saturday night. Five of those six wins came via the shutout, including back-to-back clean-sheet victories over Xavier and Creighton to open conference play.

The Red Storm and the Friars were fairly level throughout the contest on Wednesday, as each team tallied nine shots in regulation, including six apiece in the first half. Providence registered five shots on goal to the Red Storm's two while the Johnnies earned an equal 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.

Through games played on Wednesday, redshirt junior goalkeeper Luka Gavran ranks 16th in the nation in save percentage (.837) and 17th in goals against average (0.62). Those two outputs are good enough for first in the BIG EAST among netminders that have appeared in at least four games.

Saturday's match will mark the halfway point of BIG EAST play for both St. John's and Villanova. Entering the weekend, the Red Storm ranks fourth in the conference standings with a league record of 2-1-1 while Villanova sits atop the table with at 4-0-0 after recording a quartet of 1-0 wins against Marquette, Butler, Xavier and Connecticut. Three of those four victories came on the road and each of the Wildcats' last seven victories have been by one goal.

The top six teams in the final BIG EAST regular season standings earn a bid to the conference tournament. The two squads occupying the top two spots earn a bye to the league semifinals.

The Wildcats, who were picked to finish last in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches Poll in near unanimous fashion, are off to their best start to conference play in program history following four straight league wins. Four different Villanova players have found the back of the net in those four 1-0 victories: Balthi Saunders, Seidu Shamsudeen, Akinjide Awujo and Lyam MacKinnon. MacKinnon, who scored the game-winner in overtime against UConn on Wednesday, leads the team with four goals on the season.

Carson Williams, a redshirt senior from Plano, Texas, has played and started in nine games this season for Villanova between the pipes. Despite allowing three goals in a 4-0 loss to Penn State on Sept. 21, Williams still boasts a 0.78 goals against average and a .765 save percentage.

St. John's is 24-10-6 all-time against Villanova dating back to 1984, highlighted by a 15-match winning streak for the Red Storm from Dr. Dave Masur's first season in 1991 until 2003.

Villanova rattled off four consecutive wins against the Red Storm from 2013-16, but the series has swung back in the Johnnies' favor recently, as St. John's is 2-1-1 in the last four meetings between the teams. The Red Storm's lone loss during that most recent span came last spring as Belson Stadium, as Villanova defeated a short-handed St. John's team, 1-0, in overtime on March 6.

Three of the last four matches between St. John's and Villanova have gone longer than 90 minutes with the lone exception being a 4-0 win for the Red Storm on Oct. 12, 2019.

St. John’s Travels to First-Place Villanova on Saturday Afternoon

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Players Mentioned

Luka Gavran

St. John's University Athletics