No. 5 St. John's Defeats Wildcats 3-0

Two first half scores gave the Red Storm the lead

Farris Fakhoury and Villanova dropped a 3-0 match at St. John's on Oct. 11

Oct. 11, 2008

QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's Red Storm (10-1-2 overall, 5-1-1 BIG EAST), ranked No. 5 in the nation, executed two sharp scoring plays in the first half and went on to defeat Villanova (5-6-2 overall, 2-3-2 BIG EAST) 3-0 in a men's soccer match played here on Saturday night.

"They're very good at home and it's a tough environment to play in for the visiting team," stated Villanova head coach Tom Carlin. "We had some success in transition and Mike Seamon came up with three terrific scoring chances. But they're a very good team and got a big save when they needed it."

St. John's gained the edge at 28:22 off a set piece. Tafadzwa Chiduku converted a bicycle kick on a play that began on a corner kick. Joel Gustafsson and Nelson Becera were credited with assists on the score.

"They scored in a set piece and are very unforgiving when they get the lead," noted Carlin. "We struggled a bit in the final third."

The Red Storm extended the lead at 30:27 when Becera took a feed from Ale Ivo and slid a shot past Villanova goalkeeper Chris Bresnahan (McLean, Va./Gonzaga High School) to push St. John's to a 2-0 goal lead.

That is where the match was at halftime.

St. John's completed the scoring at 52:48 when Tadeo Terra converted a penalty kick.

"This is a game we can learn a lot from," Carlin said. "That's a very good team that is firing on all cylinders right now. We will get back to work and be ready for Lafayette on Tuesday."

The Wildcats take a break from BIG EAST action on Tuesday afternoon when they host Lafayette of the Patriot League in their final regular season non-conference match of the campaign. Kickoff at the Villanova Soccer Complex is 4:00 p.m.

Villanova University