St. John’s men’s soccer did not get the result it wanted this past weekend, falling to Virginia Tech 2-1 and tying Virginia Commonwealth 1-1 despite solid outings.

“I thought our spirit was good and we prepared well,” said coach Dave Masur. “We [controlled] most of the game vs. VCU and we felt it was unfortunate that we tied the game.”

Virginia Tech took the lead just 22 minutes into the game as Marcus Reed put the ball past St. John’s goalie Neal Kitson for his first goal of the season.

It was not until the 34th minute that the Red Storm got its first shot on goal, an attempt by Ryan Soroka that was saved. After one half of play, the Hokies held a 1-0 advantage on the scoreboard and a 4-1 advantage in shots.

“We can’t play the ball into pressurized situations but [rather] into good spots. Both goals were the result of us being a little bit too [timid] on the ball,” Masur said.

St. John’s came out with more fire in the second half by recording six shots, but Virginia Tech keeper Brendan Dunn was there to keep his team in the game.

The Hokies scored its second goal of the game in the 59th minute off a goal from Robert Edmans.

The Johnnies refused to give up, though, and finally got on the board in the 77th minute. Jeff Stephan scored his first goal of the season off a pass from Alex Paszek to cut the lead to 2-0.
The Red Storm effort, however, was unable to top Virginia Tech. VT held onto the lead for its third win of the season.

“You need to keep plugging away and we’ve put that in as a motto this year,” Masur said of his team’s attempted comeback. “We have the mental strength and toughness you need to stay in games.”

St. John’s 1, Virginia Commonwealth 1

Although St. John’s was able to take a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute, Virginia Commonwealth was able to stave off the Red Storm’s attack for the remainder of the game.

“We had two goals called back [but] guys stuck to the gameplan and supported one another,” Masur said.

Nelson Becerra netted the first goal of his career on a breakaway to give St. John’s the lead by one early in the game.

VCU tied the game at one in the 28th minute as Matthijs Maruanaya beat Neal Kitson.

Two overtimes were unable to determine a winner as the score ended at a 1-1 draw.