St. John’s Returns to BIG EAST Play at Seton Hall

QUEENS, N.Y. (Sept. 30, 2022) – The St. John's men's soccer team will return to BIG EAST play on Saturday night, traveling to South Orange for a showdown against Seton Hall. The 45th meeting between the longtime conference rivals will kick off at 7 p.m.

The game will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network, available on FloFC. Chris Markowitz will have the call from Owen T. Carroll Field.

St. John's heads across the Hudson after disposing of Princeton, 2-1, at Belson Stadium on Tuesday night in the team's non-conference finale. Einar Lye put the Johnnies on the board first in the 18th minute, redirecting a series of deft passes from Atila Ashrafi and Nigel Griffith past the Princeton keeper. The Red Storm added onto its lead in the 55th minute, as Wesley Leggett buried a rebound resulting from a St. John's corner kick. Adrian Roseth picked up his first assist of the campaign on the play.

On the season, Leggett ranks second on the team in points with two goals and two assists. Antek Sienkiel's five goals pace the squad and are tied for 21st in the country.

Tuesday marked the Red Storm's first one-goal victory of the season, as the Johnnies dominated Lehigh, 5-0, on Sept. 2 before downing reigning BIG EAST champion Georgetown, 3-1, two weeks later. St. John's has yet to lose a match in which it records a goal. Four of the team's five losses have come by a score of 1-0.

A pair of freshmen split time in the cage for St. John's during its win over the Tigers. Zenden Hart held Princeton scoreless for the first 42 minutes of the contest before exiting with injury. Emmanuel Smalios came on to replace Hart and stopped six of the seven shots on goal that he faced. It marked the third appearance of the season for Smalios, a Queens native who enjoyed a lengthy tenure in the NYCFC academy system as a youth.

The Johnnies enter the weekend in a tie for third place in the BIG EAST Conference standings after splitting their first two league matches. Butler, who plays Friday night, and Villanova are undefeated at the top of the ledger, having gone 1-0-1 in their opening contests. Seton Hall is part of a three-way tie for fifth in the conference with two draws.

Seton Hall welcomes the Johnnies on the heels of three consecutive draws. After tying Army, 1-1, in their non-conference finale, the Pirates began BIG EAST play with a pair of 2-2 results on the road against then-No. 24 Xavier and preseason conference favorite Providence.

The Pirates are led offensively by Quenzi Huerman, a French midfielder who arrived in South Orange after a stop at Division II Palm Beach Atlantic. He has scored five goals on the season, including both of Seton Hall's tallies against Providence, to go along with two assists. Seniors Johannes Pex (3) and Andrea Borg (2) have also scored multiple time this fall for Seton Hall.

Senior goalkeeper Hannes Ronnholmen has started seven of Seton Hall's eight games between the pipes. The Stockholm, Sweden, native owns a 1.14 goals against average to go along with a .733 save percentage.

Seton Hall is the most frequently played opponent in St. John's history, as the Pirates and the Red Storm will meet for the 45th time on Saturday night.

The Johnnies own a 25-14-5 advantage all-time against Seton Hall dating back to the program's debut season in 1979.

Seton Hall has had an edge in the series of late, as the Johnnies are 0-2-2 in their last four against the Pirates since 2019. Prior to that, the Red Storm had won five of six against Seton Hall since the reconfiguration of the BIG EAST in 2013.

St. John’s Returns to BIG EAST Play at Seton Hall

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Players Mentioned

Atila Ashrafi

Nigel Griffith

Zenden Hart

Wesley Leggett

Einar Lye

Adrian Roseth

Antek Sienkiel

Emmanuel Smalios

St. John's University Athletics