DePaul's Clash with St. John's Ends in 2-2 Draw

Saturday, October 20

Queens, N.Y.

6:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

4-7-3, 1-3-2BE

St. John's

6-6-2, 2-2-2BE

OT 3

OT 4

DePaul

St. John's

DePaul's Clash with St. John's Ends in 2-2 Draw

10/20/2018 8:42:00 PM | MEN'S SOCCER

Box Score

Saturday's match marked DePaul's seventh OT match this season

CHICAGO - In what truly embodied a fight until the end, DePaul battled to a double overtime 2-2 draw with the St. John's Red Storm on Saturday evening in New York. This puts DePaul at 4-7-3, 1-3-2 BIG EAST and St. John's at 6-6-2, 2-2-2 BIG EAST.

How it Happened
Following a defensively heavy first half for the Blue Demons that only saw one shot on goal, the DePaul men's soccer team ignited a spark in the second half and managed to battle back and force yet another overtime this season to earn a draw.

The Blue Demons found themselves down a goal in the 61st minute after Johan Aquilon sent a shot towards the goal that was quickly deflected just into the side of the net. After a series of DePaul corner kicks, Matthew Brickman tapped a rebound towards Zach El-Shafei who sent a screamer from the top of the box into the upper right hand corner to tie the game at 1-1. El-Shafei notched his third goal of the season, the most he's scored in his career at DePaul. Brickman snagged his second career assist on the goal.

Exactly three minutes later, off a free kick from El-Shafei, the ball was passed around to five different players without touching the ground, before Istvan Wilhelms would get a hold of it, let it bounce once and send it right past Lenny Wilson to take a 2-1 lead. Wilhelms scored his fourth goal this season, tying last season's total, and now has eight points on the season. Brickman picked up another assist and Sasa Labovic picked up his first assist this season.

Twenty-one seconds later though, St. John's took away any of DePaul's momentum by evening the game up at 2-2, forcing the game into overtime.

Through both overtimes, DePaul would have three corner kicks and El-Shafei would get the only shot on goal for DePaul, and the clock ran down to zero for the draw.

Key Numbers
11...Total overtime periods played by the Blue Demons in 2018.
8...DePaul was outshot 18-8 against St. John's, though six of the eight were SOG.
4...Saves made by Drew Nuelle. His season total is now at 55.

Notes
...Saturday's match marked the seventh overtime match of the season.
...Blue Demons are 0-1-3 in October.
...Zach El-Shafei put up his highest single game SOG count against the Red Storm Saturday.

Quotes
Head coach Mark Plotkin

On the squad's performance...
"I was happy that our guys found our battling spirit that we showed earlier this season; we looked more like ourselves tonight. St. John's is a very good team who play at an extremely fast tempo and create a lot of opportunities in the attack. I thought we responded well in adverse moments and to come away with a point on the road is extremely valuable for our postseason hopes. We can build off this performance as we prepare for Xavier Wednesday."

On Zach El-Shafei's impact...
"Zach has been in great form as of late. He's showing the type of quality he can produce and I'm happy he is finding some individual success within our team performances. His work ethic on both sides of the ball has become his greatest strength and this team feeds off his energy up top. Zach was everywhere tonight and had a huge impact on the game. Not only with his goal, but his hold up play, pressure defensively, and service on set pieces."

Up Next
DePaul continues this road swing and travels to face Xavier on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. in Cincinnati, Ohio. The match will be broadcast on the Big East Digital Network.

Quick Scouting the Xavier Musketeers (4-6-5, 2-3-1)
Xavier fell to Marquette in a 2-1 contest on Saturday. Xavier is 1-6-1 in their last eight games. They are lead Simon Hestnes with seven goals on the season and Samson Sergi with four. In goal, Zachary Nelson has been the backbone in 10 matches, securing a record of 3-2-5, a save percentage of 0.764 to go a long with a goals against average of 1.28.

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