The St. John’s Men’s Soccer team suffered a crushing 2-1 defeat on Sept. 24 against the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Red Storm’s record dropped to a disappointing 2-4-3 and the team has quickly found themselves second to last in the East Division of the Big East standings. 

Despite the loss, the Johnnies had complete control and did not allow a single shot or corner kick from Penn State in the first half. 

The St. John’s front line kept the pressure on Penn State’s redshirt freshman goalkeeper Fredrick Grundin for the opening 20 minutes until the first goal slipped by. Sophomore midfielder Tyler Morck opened up the scoring in the 21st minute with his second goal of the season after junior forward Miguel Diaz placed a perfect set-up and earned his first assist of the season.

Morck played excellent in his 51 minutes of play in this game, which is a welcome sign for only being a year removed from a torn ACL last season. If he can stay on the field, the sophomore could be a valuable midfielder for the Johnnies down the stretch. 

Despite some close calls, St. John’s couldn’t add another goal before halftime.

The Red Storm’s offensive showing was prevalent in the box score. They ended the half with seven shots and two corner kicks, easily having one of their best offensive halves of the season. 

Since their 3-0 shutout against the University of Albany and 2-2 draw to the University of North Carolina earlier in the season, the team has struggled to keep up with other teams offensively. In the first half against Xavier on Sept. 20, the Red Storm only connected on one of their 10 shots on goal in the first half. 

This overwhelming offensive performance continued well into the second half, as they kept control of the ball up until the 74th minute until Penn State was awarded their first corner kick of the game. Junior defender Matthew Henderson stepped up and miraculously curved the ball into the net.  The rare unassisted corner kick evened up the game 1-1.

The Johnnies deflated following the surprising score. Penn State didn’t give up the ball and tested junior goalkeeper Alec McLachlan with constant shots on goal. All three of their shots on goal came in this second half. 

In the 80th minute, Matthew Henderson made another game-changing play by assisting graduate student midfielder Michael Hewes on the final goal.

St. John’s was awarded a final scoring opportunity in the last minute off a Penn State foul, but Miguel Diaz was denied the equalizing goal by Grudin, sealing a Nittany Lion win.

At the game’s end, the Johnnies still led in major statistics with a telling 15-5 lead on shots and four corner kicks to Penn State’s one. The difference came in the goalkeeping as Grudin outplayed McLachlan and saved three shots against McLachlan’s one. 

With Big East play now fully in swing, they will need to turn this cold spell around if they wish to stay in contention. Their first chance to do so will be on Sept. 28 as they take on Villanova at Belson Stadium.