A lack of offense has plagued the St. John’s women’s soccer team all season long and that was the case again yesterday afternoon against the Georgetown Hoyas.

The Red Storm dropped a close game 1-0 to the Hoyas at North Kehoe Field.

“[Georgetown] came out strong,” head coach Ian Stone said. “They’re a good team; they are very quick and athletic.”

The Red Storm (7-5-4, 3-4-2 Big East) were out-shot by the Hoyas (11-3-2, 6-3 Big East) 13 to six and only managed to put four shots on goal.

The game was a back-and-forth affair from the opening kickoff, but was tied at the half. Georgetown came out firing early as they out-shot St. John’s 6 to 1 in the first half, but the fearless St. John’s defense did a fine job of keeping the score tied at halftime.

“We had no rhythm in the first half,” Stone said. “We decided to switch to a 4-4-2 in the second half so we could create better possession.”

Georgetown, which is currently in third place in the Big East National Conference, scored the game winning goal in the 63rd minute of the game. Freshman Samantha Baker threw the ball in deep in the Red Storm side of the field and sophomore Courtney Kent headed the ball past Red Storm keeper Kristin Russell.

St. John’s offense got into gear in the second half as they posted five shots, four of which were on goal. Their best chance came late in the game on a controversial no-call. For the last ten minutes Stone switched his formation to three forwards to put a little more pressure on the Hoyas.

Midfielder Sarah McGrath possessed the ball after it was loose in the Hoyas zone and streaked towards the goal. As she was about strike one on net she was tripped from behind by a Hoya defender, but the referee didn’t blow the whistle, which sent the Red Storm sideline into an uproar.

“Sarah normally beats people with the ball,” Stone said. “The player tripped her but the ref didn’t give us the call.”
After that no-call the air was taken out of the Red Storm attack and they couldn’t put together any other opportunities.

Amanda Pasciolla lead the offensive attack for the Red Storm as she tallied a team-high three shots while playing the full 90 minutes.

Kristin Russell had another solid game in goal as she saved five of the six shots sent her way.

The Red Storm defense had another valiant effort and was led by Nicole Doran, C.J. Ludemann and Pasciolla.

“I’m pretty proud of the girls for hanging in there,” Stone said. “Give Georgetown credit, they played well.”

With only two games remaining on the Red Storm’s regular season schedule, they currently sit fourth in the Big East’s American Conference with eleeven points.
Their final two games are against American Conference teams, UConn and Providence.

“Providence and UConn are more important to us right now,” Stone said.

“Not only are we picking up points if we beat them but we are taking points away from them. We just have to get ready for Friday and Sunday.”

St. John’s plays its final two regular season games on the road and takes on Providence on Friday.