St. John’s Wins Fifth Straight, 2-0, over Creighton

Friday, September 24

Queens, N.Y. (Belson Stadium)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

6-2-0, 2-0-0BE

Creighton

1-4-1, 0-2-0BE

Creighton

St. John's

St. John’s Wins Fifth Straight, 2-0, over Creighton

9/24/2021 9:57:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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Red Storm improves to 2-0-0 in BIG EAST action

By: Andrew O'Connell

QUEENS, N.Y. – After nearly 70 minutes of scoreless play, the St. John's men's soccer team scored twice in less than 10 minutes to defeat Creighton, 2-0, on Friday night and improve to 2-0-0 in BIG EAST action.

The Red Storm controlled possession and thoroughly out-chanced the Bluejays before breaking through in the 70th minute of an unassisted goal by Wesley Leggett. Nine minutes and six seconds later, Atila Ashrafi headed home a corner kick for his first marker of the season. Einar Lye picked up an assist on the insurance tally.

The reigning BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week, Luka Gavran made five stops to register his fifth clean sheet in just eight opportunities this season. St. John's (6-2-0, 2-0-0 BIG EAST) has now recorded a shutout in three consecutive contests and has won five straight overall.

"The BIG EAST is a tough conference," said Dr. Dave Masur following the win. "It's the toughest I've seen since I've been here. It's the physicality, the quality. The coaching in our conference is very, very good. Creighton had a higher RPI than us. They played some really good teams, so we're happy to get a result. We just know that every game is going to be really tough. It's just the second step in a series of many battles ahead of us."

Following a first half in which both keepers needed to make only one save to preserve the scoreless tie, the Johnnies picked up their offensive intensity at the beginning of the second stanza.

In the 51st and 54th minutes, Jared Juleau had a pair of great looks in front of the net, but Creighton keeper Paul Kruse came up with two clutch stops to keep the Bluejays level.

Creighton responded in the 57th minute with a shot from Daniel Espeleta that forced Gavran to make a diving save to his left, arguably his best stop of the evening.

After a pair of stellar scoring opportunities from Leggett and Johan Aquilon failed to break the deadlock in the 60th and 64th minutes, respectively, St. John's finally broke through in the 70th minute. The athletic and energetic Leggett pounced on a poor touch by Creighton centerback Musa Qonga in his own zone, chasing down a loose ball before beating Kruse one-and-one and putting the Johnnies on top.

Just over nine minutes later, the Johnnies essentially iced the game with a perfectly placed corner kick from Lye. The ball found Ashrafi on the far post at the six-yard line and the junior from Germany headed it home with authority to put the Johnnies ahead by a pair.

Creighton would not go away easily, registering five shots, three of which were on goal, in the final seven and a half minutes of action. Gavran, however, continued to come up big for the Red Storm, who stayed atop the BIG EAST table with their fifth straight victory.

With the win, St. John's is now undefeated in its last eight BIG EAST home openers (6-0-2) and has won six in a row.

The Johnnies will return to action on Tuesday for their non-conference finale at Princeton. Kick-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Class of 1952 Stadium.