No. 7 Georgetown men defeat St. John’s 1-0
WASHINGTON (Via Georgetown University) – The No. 9/7 Georgetown University men’s soccer squad shut out the St. John’s University Red Storm (3-9-3, 1-3-2 BIG EAST) on Saturday evening in a BIG EAST matchup at Belson Stadium in Queens, N.Y. The Hoyas are currently 10-2-2 on the season and 6-0-0 in BIG EAST Conference play.
The win set a new program record for consecutive shutouts with six breaking the record set in 1998. Additionally, it continued GU’s 11-game unbeaten streak, tying the program record set in 2012 and marked Head Coach Brian Wiese’s first win at St. John’s in his career. The Blue & Gray has yet to give up a goal in BIG EAST play.
The Hoyas opened the contest with a corner kick as senior defender Cole Seiler (Anderson, S.C./Christ Church Episcopal School) had a header that was saved by St. John’s goalkeeper Jordan Stagmiller in the fourth minute. The Blue & Gray kept firing, but the next significant chance came from the Red Storm as Luis Esteves hit the crossbar in the 23rd minute.
A four-minute span produced four shots from Georgetown who controlled the pace of the game throughout. In the 36th minute, senior Brandon Allen (Old Bridge, N.J./St. Joseph) had a shot that was saved as GU searched for the first goal to take the lead.
The Hoyas went into the break in a scoreless tie with the Red Storm.
It all changed in the 59th minute when sophomore midfielder Arun Basuljevic (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) was taken down in the box on the left side. It resulted in a penalty kick opportunity which Allen sent in and it deflected off of Stagmiller’s glove and into the net to make it 1-0.
Hanging onto the lead, the Hoyas didn’t let up as Allen and junior forward Alex Muyl (New York, N.Y./Bard) both had good chances in the following minutes.
With eight minutes left in the contest, the defense stepped it up as St. John’s had an opportunity on a free kick as junior defender Joshua Yaro (Santa Barbara, Calif./Cate School) came in and cleared it to keep it scoreless.
Allen had one more chance for the insurance goal in the 87th minute when Stagmiller made a diving save to stop a sure-score for the Blue & Gray.
In the final minute of the game, a long cross gave the Red Storm a header opportunity that was just wide of the net as the defense fought off each attempt. The header would be the final chance as the final whistle blew and GU had the 1-0 victory.
The Hoyas outshot the Red Storm, 20-5, and took four corners to SJU’s none. Despite no saves, freshman goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski (Alamo, Calif./De La Salle) was awarded the shutout and win in the net, while Stagmiller took the loss with five saves on the evening.
Georgetown will be back in action on Wednesday as the squad hosts the Seton Hall Pirates at Shaw Field at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network with Dan Helfrich and Tom Greaser calling the action. Live stats will also be available through www.GUHoyas.com.
