The St. John’s men’s soccer team’s win streak now sits at four games after shutting out the University of South Florida, 2-0 on Senior Night at Belson Stadium on Saturday.
The win extends St. John’s unbeaten streak to six, during which they have not given up a goal. The win, coupled with Villanova’s loss to Louisville, also clinched the third seed in the Big East’s Red division and ensured that Saturday would not be the last time the seniors played at Belson Stadium.
“My father’s here, my girlfriend’s here, her family’s here,” said Tadeu Terra, the senior midfielder from Brazil who scored what proved to be the game-winner.
“All the support I have here in America is all here and it’s just great to be here in this environment to have one more game with the help of the guys.”
Senior midfielder Sverre Wegge Gundhus added, “It’s huge to get this game. It puts us in a great position to win the next. It’s a huge advantage to have homefield advantage.”
Terra struck just 18 minutes into the contest. Freshman forward Dom Sarle won the ball from a USF defender on the left side of the box near the end line and found Terra all alone at point-blank range in front of USF keeper Jeff Attinella. Terra calmly put it by him for his fifth goal of the season.
“[It was] just like what we talk about every day. Keep running hard and putting their defenders under pressure,” said Terra. “Coach asked us to get in the box and make first post runs. Guys need to run hard across. I made the first post run and the ball came to me.”
The goal help tilt the field in St. John’s favor after a slow start to the match. The Red Storm were in control for the rest of the half, outshooting USF 7-3 and allowing only one shot to reach freshman keeper Rafael Diaz.
The second half was more of the same, with St. John’s controlling play except for two sequences early in the half.
In the 53rd minute, a USF corner kick proved dangerous. Diaz came off his line to try to punch the ball out of the air, ?but didn’t get enough on it to clear and found himself out a position with an empty net behind him. Bulls midfielder Fernando Gonzalez then played the ball with his hand and was issued a yellow card, saving Diaz.
Four minutes later, Diaz played the hero when he robbed USF forward Hasani Sinclair. A misplayed header by Sarle left Sinclair all alone at the edge of the six-yard box. Diaz was able to make a reflex save and deflect it for a corner.
The Johnnies’ two best chances of the second half came on free kicks by Wegge Gundhus. Playing as a forward, Wegge Gundhus played a free kick in the 66th minute from about 30 yards out that senior forward Adam Himeno deflected towards the net, but it was saved by Attinella.
In the 81st minute, Wegge Gundhus lined up to take another free kick from about 35 yards out. This one found senior defender Kyle Hoffer, who headed it past the diving Attinella to seal the victory.
“On the first one I was kind of closer and had a better angle,” said Wegge Gundhus. “So I wanted to like whip it in and get it a lot lower and get it towards the far corner. The second time I just wanted to smack the ball in there, curve it in the midst of it and hope that someone would get onto it.”
