The St. John’s Women’s Soccer team defeated the Cornell Big Red in an offensive masterclass from the Johnnies on Sept. 12.
The Red Storm entered the matchup from a 0-0 draw to Monmouth on Sept. 8, but their offense dominated possession for the opening 20 minutes.
Senior forward and St. John’s leading scorer Jordyn Levy put away a header goal in the 19th minute to go up 1-0 and open up the scoring frenzy for the Johnnies. The goal marks her fourth of the season and puts her in second place in overall goal-scoring in the Big East.
Just three minutes after Levy’s goal, senior midfielder Lauryn Tran broke away from Cornell defenders and scored another goal to push the lead to 2-0.
Torch Photo (Sebastian Zelaya)
The Big Red put themselves on the board in the 27th minute with an outside-of-the-box goal from senior forward Laken Gallman.
With Cornell controlling possession for the following 10 minutes, the Johnnies defense snuffed out any attack that the Big Red could muster. Perfect tackles from sophomore defender Reese Dunaway and excellent communication by the whole back-line ended up leading to an easy scoring opportunity on the other end.
This chance came in the 40th minute, when sophomore midfielder Juliana Dane delivered and gave St. John’s a more comfortable 3-1 lead going into halftime.
At the half, the Johnnies led all major statistics on offense. They went into the locker room with a five-to-three lead on shots and a single corner kick compared to Cornell’s zero. Both goalies were tied in shots saved, as the Johnnies’ junior keeper Kayla Bower continued excellent play with two saves. This comes after her best performance of the season against Monmouth, where she had three saves in a single half.
Ten minutes into the second half, the Johnnies put the final score on the board thanks to crafty dribble moves and a nice finish by senior midfielder Jailene DeJesus. The fancy 54th-minute goal was a good note for the offense.
The rest of the second half consisted of the St. John’s defense daring Cornell’s offense to score. The Johnnies were able to hold off the Big Red and finish with a 4-1 win.
The Johnnies finished the night with eight shots compared to Cornell’s seven. Both teams ended tied in corner kicks with one each but senior keeper Malene Nielsen subbed in for Bower and completely took over the second half. Saving three more shots, giving them a five-to-three advantage in saves.
The Johnnies will hit the road to face the University of Pennsylvania on Sept. 15.
