The St. John’s women’s soccer team’s unbeaten streak at home was ended Sunday when the Red Storm lost 2-1 to Georgetown in overtime.
Just over two minutes into overtime, the Red Storm were called for a foul in the eighteen-yard box which led to a penalty kick by Georgetown forward Ingrid Wells. She cleared it past substitute goalkeeper Lauren Ferris to win the game.
The loss dropped the Red Storm to 6-4-1 on the season and 2-2 in Big East play.
The first half was marked by an aggressive Georgetown offense that controlled possession of the ball and came close to converting many of their nine shots, while St. John’s only managed four shots.
“We didn’t match their intensity in the first half,” said head coach Ian Stone.
Senior goalkeeper Kristin Russell had three saves in the first half, but suffered an injury to her foot and was replaced by Ferris in the second half.
Stone made several substitutions in the second half, including sophomore midfielder Sandra Osborn, sophomore defender Michelle Murino and redshirtsenior midfielder Raelynne Lee.
“We really picked up the energy in the second half when Sandra , Michelle and Raelynne got in the game,” Stone said.
But it was the Hoyas who got on the board first. In the 63rd minute, Georgetown forward Camille Trujillo went around Red Storm senior defender Megan Klement in a one-on-one situation off a free kick and beat Ferris to score the first goal of the game.
Down 1-0, the Johnnies responded quickly. A long through pass by Deanna Murino reached junior midfielder Runa Stefansdottir, who sent a high diagonal ball that bounced off the right goal post. Freshman Caitlin McLaughlin tapped in the rebound to tie the game at 1-1.
“The girl dropped off me so I had a lot of space”, said Stefansdottir. “I knew that if I challenged the goalkeeper good things would happen. Caitlyn was in the right place at the right time and she bumped
it right in.”
“We started to get wide and play the whole field more. The entire team stepped up the intensity and began to do things like win 50/50s,” said Red Storm junior Runa Stefansdottir.
The Red Storm ended the game strongly, but regulation ended at 1-1 and the teams went to sudden death overtime.
St. John’s had the first chance of overtime, but couldn’t convert before Wells put home the spot kick to end the game.
The loss wrapped up a 1-1 weekend for the Johnnies, who beat Villanova on Sept. 23.
“We need to keep our level of play consistent from Friday to Sunday”, said Stefansdottir. “We are definitely good enough to beat them, and to compete at the highest level in our conference, we just need to believe it.”
The Red Storm continues their Big East schedule this Friday when the travel to Pistacaway, N.J., to face Rutgers in the first of four road games.
