St. John’s (2-8-5, 0-5-3 Big East) earned a 1-1 draw against Butler (5-4-6, 2-3–3 Big East) on a chilly night at Belson Stadium on Oct. 22. The Red Storm snapped their four-game losing streak and earned their first point since Sept. 27.
Late in the season, St. John’s finds themselves in 10th place out of the 11 teams in the Big East Conference. The Red Storm are not in contention for the 2025 Big East Tournament, which is awarded to the top six teams in the conference.
On the other hand, Butler finds itself right in the mix for the conference tournament. The Bulldogs currently sit in fifth place with just one point separating them from eighth place. At this point in the season, Butler cannot afford a loss. They need at least a point every time out to stay in the hunt for a conference tournament berth.
The first half was evenly matched; both sides traded possession back and forth throughout. St. John’s showed a newfound fire all night long. They played aggressively, trying to win the ball on defense and then transition into offense.
St. John’s saw a lone opportunity to find the net in the first half. Freshman forward Leana Ruiz fired from outside the box and nearly scored. Ruiz tried her luck from way downtown, with the ball bouncing off the Butler keeper’s hands and landing on the top of the net.
The rest of the half was more of the same from there: tenacious Red Storm defense that stifled the Bulldog offense and barely any looks on the attack for St. John’s.
Senior goalkeeper Kayla Bower came up clutch in the second half for St. John’s. Butler controlled the game for the majority of the half and consistently put pressure on Bower and the backline. Just as she has all season long, Bower rose to the occasion, collecting four saves in the second half and six total in the matchup.
With the game still tied nil-nil, Bower made the save of the night. Butler senior Talia Sommer found space and ripped a blazing shot on goal that Bower dove left for and gobbled up. The preseason all-Big East team member was in disbelief that Bower was able to stop her shot.
Moments later, Butler finally broke through on a goal from senior forward Daphne Murray to break the scoreless tie. Murray capitalized on a fortunate deflection that ricocheted out in front of the net where she was completely unmarked. Bower managed to get a piece of it, but the ball slowly trickled into the cage.
The Red Storm punched right back following the Bulldogs score. Sophomore forward Hope Van Tuyle was set up on a silver platter by Ruiz for the equalizer. Van Tuyle could not have asked for a better cross; Ruiz pinged her right foot and she tapped it into the cage one time.
Van Tuyle added postgame, “Shoutout Leana that was a great cross…she’s been saucing up their outside back game after game, so I just put my trust in her and expected it to fall to my foot.”
Van Tuyle’s score was the Red Storm’s first since Oct. 1. Her teammates embraced her right away. They all collectively got the weight of the lengthy scoreless drought off their shoulders.
With time expiring Butler had a prime opportunity to steal a win. Red Storm freshman outside back Leah Anand made a spectacular tackle to shut down the chance. If it was not for Anand’s heroics with time expiring, Butler could have easily escaped victorious. Bower corralled a hail mary shot from the Bulldog front and held onto it to let time expire.
St. John’s left it all on the pitch and earned a hard-fought point Wednesday night. The underclassmen showed up in a big way once again for head coach Ian Stone. The Red Storm have just two games left. At home against DePaul and on the road against Creighton. The final two games of the slate are key for this young Red Storm squad to build momentum heading into the offseason.