St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Seton Hall
St. John’s Back on the Road at Seton Hall Thursday Night
9/27/2023 11:48:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Red Storm will kick-off at 6 p.m. in South Orange, N.J.
QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's women's soccer team will head across state lines for a Thursday night match-up against Seton Hall.
The action from Owen T. Carroll Field will begin at 6 p.m. with John Fanta and Isis Young on the call from South Orange, N.J., on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports.
The Red Storm will enter Thursday's contest after a narrow road defeat at UConn, 2-1, on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
The Huskies nudged ahead on a tally in the eighth minute and held the advantage for 80 minutes of play. The Johnnies equalized down the stretch in the 88th minute off a re-directed header from Jessica Garziano off a long ball from Frederique St.-Jean. Just 22 seconds later, UConn's Abbey Jones finished a cross to log the game-winner at Morrone Stadium.
Garziano continues to shine in her final season with the Johnnies scoring her fourth goal over the last three games. The graduate student ranks 12th in the country and leads the BIG EAST with 20 points (seven goals, six assists) on the year. On Monday, the attacking midfielder was tabbed to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after being named the league's offensive player of the week prior.
St.-Jean's assist on Sunday marked her third of the year. The defender ranks top-10 in the league in helpers and first among defenders.
St. John's has four players that rank inside the top-10 in the league in total assists- Garziano (1st), Nicole Gordon (T-3rd), Lauryn Tran (T-3rd) and St.-Jean (T-10th). The Red Storm currently sit atop the conference and top-25 nationally averaging 2.4 helpers per contest.
Seton Hall comes into its BIG EAST home opener with a 4-5-1 overall record and a 0-2 mark in league play. The Pirates started off league competition falling at Providence, 3-1 and at Villanova, 2-1, last week.
Seton Hall is led by Natalie Tavana, who scored her league-leading eighth goal of the season on Sunday. The junior currently ranks 16th in the nation in goals per game (0.89) and has accounted for 50 percent of the Pirates' scoring through 10 games.
The two schools separated by just 24 miles have a longstanding history on the pitch and Thursday will mark the 30th all-time meeting between St. John's and Seton Hall. The Red Storm have dominated the series leading 22-6-1. The Johnnies have won 11 of their last 12 against the conference foe.
In last year's meeting in Queens, Isabelle Aviza netted a 27th minute game-winner on assists from Garziano and Gordon to propel the home side to a 1-0 victory. The St. John's defense held the Pirates to just one shot.
