Knapp’s Overtime PK Lifts St. John’s Past Boston University, 3-2

Friday, September 10

Queens, N.Y. (Belson Stadium)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

3-2-0

Boston University

0-4-1

Boston U.

St. John's

Knapp’s Overtime PK Lifts St. John’s Past Boston University, 3-2

9/10/2021 10:20:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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Red Storm tallies game-winner 22 seconds into the extra period

By: Andrew O'Connell

QUEENS, N.Y. - Brandon Knapp buried a penalty kick just 22 seconds into overtime on Friday night, as the St. John's men's soccer survived a late scare to beat Boston University, 3-2, at Belson Stadium.

Knapp's second of the season came after a tense end to regulation, as the Johnnies surrendered a 2-0 lead in the final 25 minutes of the second half. That two-goal advantage took just 12 minutes of game play for St. John's to obtain, as Einar Lye scored in both the sixth and 12th minutes to give the Red Storm an early edge.

Lye's two-goal effort marked the Norwegian's third brace in just 35 career games at St. John's. He achieved the feat as a sophomore against Iona and Villanova.

Four different Johnnies picked up an assist on Friday evening despite scoring just two goals aside from the decisive penalty kick. Knapp recorded an assist, his fourth of the season, to go along with his game-winner while Lucas Bartlett, Andrew Bennett and Adrian Roseth each added a helper.

St. John's wasted no time finding the back of the net, as Lye scored his first goal just 5:53 into the game. The sequence began at the top of the box, as Bennett touched a ball to a streaking Knapp, who then quickly played it over to his right for Lye. The senior finished to the short side past a diving Francesco Montali and the Johnnies jumped ahead 1-0.

Less than six minutes later, Lye struck again following another pair of crafty passes from his teammates. Roseth and Bartlett played a two-man game in front of the Red Storm bench before Bartlett sent a right-footed cross into the box. Lye was waiting patiently at the top of the six. He tucked a header inside that same right post and put the Red Storm on top by a pair with less than a quarter of the game gone by.

The Red Storm recorded one more quality chance in the first half, as Jared Juleau sent a shot on target that was stopped by Montali, his former Red Bulls Academy teammate.

The Terriers did not register their first shot on goal until the 44th minute of play.

St. John's came out of the intermission on the front foot, earning a corner and sending two quality tries at the cage, one from Knapp and one from Wesley Leggett, in the opening 10 minutes of action.

Not long after Waldemar Kattrup rang a shot off the crossbar that would have extended the St. John's lead to three, Brian Hernandez found the back of the net to cut the BU deficit to one in the 65th minute.

Over the next 19 minutes, the Red Storm registered a number of solid scoring chances, but could not break through. Lye narrowly missed a hat trick in both the 66th and 68th minutes. Freshman Micaah Garnette was denied on the doorstep in the 74th before sending another try just high in the 82nd.

With just over six minutes remaining in regulation, Hernandez struck again for the Terriers on a long try from outside the box.

St. John's looked as if it might still avoid overtime, as Juleau drew a foul just outside the 18 in the final minute of play. On the ensuing free kick, Lye sent a ball toward the right post that appeared to be bending in for the game-winner, but Montali came up big with another stop. The BU keeper notched four of his five saves in the latter stanza.

On the opening possession of overtime, Leggett was taken down in the box by BU defender Kenneth Huang, setting up the penalty kick opportunity for Knapp. The senior captain delivered a booming right-footed strike into the upper 90, sending the Belson crowd home happy.

The Red Storm will close out its five-game homestand on Monday night when it hosts Columbia at Belson Stadium. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. on FloSports.