Losing has not been an option for St. John’s since it lost the season opener at Boston College in the beginning of September.
The third-ranked Red Storm (10-1-3, 6-1-1 Big East) managed to stay out of the loss column once again, surviving a late charge from Syracuse (7-5-2, 3-3-1) and earning a 1-1 tie on Oct. 19 at the SU Soccer Stadium.
The tie snaps St. John’s five game winning streak over Syracuse, which dated back to the 1996 season when the Orangemen defeated the Red Storm, 2-0, on the Johnnies way to the NCAA National Championship.
“It’s a very, very tough conference all the way through,” St. John’s Head Coach Dave Masur said, “and the Big East is the premier conference in the country.
The Johnnies took an early 1-0 lead just two minutes into the game when Chris Corcoran beat the Orangemen defense to the far corner and crossed the ball to Andre Schmid, who finished the play for his fourth goal of the season.
St. John’s continued to assault the Syracuse net with aggressive chances by Corcoran, Schmid and Angel Rodriguez, but the SJU trio couldn’t get past Syracuse goalie Alim Karim.
Syracuse had several chances in the second half and finally capitalized in the 84th minute when Guido Cristofori came away with a loose ball in the box. Cristofori then found Jarrett Park, who beat St. John’s keeper Bill Gaudette with the equalizer of the match.
Gaudette, who entered the game with a nation-best 0.33 goals against average, made six saves, including several diving stops.
The Orangemen outshot the Red Storm, 20-11, the first time SJU has been outshot in 14 games this season.
“With their potent attack they were able to get by us and have some chances on goal,” Masur said.
St. John’s returns to action this weekend when they host the Daly Worldwide Classic Tournament on Oct. 25 and 26 at Belson Stadium.
The Red Storm will face conference rival Connecticut on Friday night, a match-up that will ultimately decide the winner of the Big East regular season title and the top seed for the Big East Tournament.
On Saturday, St. John’s will take on Long Island University.
