St. John’s to Begin BIG EAST Play on Saturday at Seton Hall

Saturday, February 27

South Orange, N.J. (Owen T. Carrol Field)

3 p.m.

St. John's University

Seton Hall

St. John’s to Begin BIG EAST Play on Saturday at Seton Hall

2/26/2021 2:03:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Watch Live Stats Game Notes (PDF)

Red Storm heads to South Orange for 3 p.m. tilt

By: Andrew O'Connell

After opening the spring 2021 campaign with a pair of non-conference victories at Belson Stadium, the No. 15 St. John's men's soccer team will hit the road for its BIG EAST opener on Saturday, traveling to South Orange for a 3 p.m. showdown with Seton Hall.

Since regular season BIG EAST play began for the 1985 season, the Red Storm is 20-9-6 in conference openers and undefeated in five straight (3-0-2) dating back to 2015. Saturday's match will mark the third time in the last five seasons that St. John's has opened the BIG EAST portion of its schedule against Seton Hall, as the Red Storm claimed a pair of 1-0 victories against the Pirates in 2017 and 2018. In last year's BIG EAST opener against No. 19 Xavier, St. John's scored three times in the second half to down the Musketeers and improve to 7-0-0 on the season, good enough for the longest winning streak to start a season in program history.

After defeating Saint Joseph's, 1-0, in its season opener thanks to a second half goal from Tani Oluwaseyi, the Red Storm's offense exploded on Tuesday afternoon in a 4-2 win over Stony Brook. The Johnnies scored three times in the first 12:20 of game action, including a Wesley Leggett goal just nine seconds into the contest, believed to be the quickest goal in program history. Oluwaseyi tallied two goals and one assist against the Seawolves while Leggett finished with a goal and an assist. Einar Lye drew and scored a penalty kick while Ethan Shaw added his second assist of the season.

The reigning BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and a member of the preseason watch list for the MAC Hermann Trophy, Oluwaseyi is off to a quick start in 2021. The junior from Mississauga, Ont., has three goals and an assist in just two games, good enough for the highest goal-per-game and point-per-game totals in the BIG EAST. Last season, Oluwaseyi became the first Johnnie since the national championship campaign of 1996 to be named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year. He scored 11 goals and dished out five assists, good enough for the highest single-season goal total by a St. John's player since Simon Salino scored 14 times during the College Cup campaign of 2003. Oluwaseyi led the BIG EAST in goals and finished second in points. He ranked 27th and 31st nationally in those categories, respectively.

After playing NJIT to a 3-3 draw in its season opener on Feb. 17, Seton Hall earned back-to-back shutout victories in South Orange, topping La Salle, 1-0, last Saturday before taking down Fairleigh Dickinson, 2-0, on Wednesday.

Junior forward C.J. Tibbling leads the team with two goals and an assist through the first three games, finding the back of the net against NJIT and FDU. In his first year with the Pirates, sophomore Johannes Pex scored twice in that season-opening tie with the Highlanders.

The Pirates have split time between the pipes this season, as sophomore Hannes Ronnolmen has started two games while senior Andreas Nota started one and came off the bench in another. Nota has yet to allow and goal and made five saves in 135 minutes of action.

St. John's has faced Seton Hall more than any other opponent in program history, as the two teams have met 41 times since 1979.

The Johnnies are undefeated in five straight against the Pirates, but saw a four-game winning streak in the series come to an end following a 1-1 draw in South Orange last October. St. John's is undefeated in 10 of its last 11 against Seton Hall dating back to 2007.