Early Offense Sends St. John’s Past DePaul

Saturday, October 30

Chicago, Ill.

1:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

7-7-2, 3-4-2

St. John's

10-4-2, 5-2-2

St. John's (NY)

DePaul

10/30/2021 4:06:00 PM | MEN'S SOCCER

Box Score

St. John's bursts out to early lead to win 2-0

CHICAGO - DePaul men's soccer could not mount a rally against the visiting St. John's Red Storm on Saturday afternoon at Wish Field, falling 2-0 in the final home match of the 2021 season. A pair of first-half goals sent the Red Storm past the Blue Demons on senior day. DePaul honored their 10 seniors in a pregame ceremony prior to first touch.

Before kickoff, DePaul recognized Justin Bohlig, Matthew Brickman, Boris Del Valle, Jake Fuderer, Michael Lantry, Youssef Ramadan, Robert Rao, Jack Richards, Jacob Seeto and Patrick Watkins for their efforts and contributions to the Blue Demon program. A handful of DePaul's 10 seniors have played under head coach Mark Plotkin since he debuted as the leader of the Blue Demons at the beginning of the 2018 season.

As soon as the action began on the pitch on Saturday afternoon, St. John's put the pressure on the Blue Demons with its direct style of play. The Red Storm played the ball forward in the opening minutes to create chances offensively. After a DePaul free kick was cleared away in the third minute, the Red Storm countered, creating a chance that was knocked in by Andrew Bennett just three and a half minutes into the match.

St. John's was able to extend the lead just over ten minutes later when Jared Juleau found space on the move at the top of the box. Juleau fired a high shot that found its way over Gandhi Cruz and into the back of the net. The well-placed strike gave the Red Storm a 2-0 lead less than 15 minutes into the action.

The Red Storm managed to outshoot the Blue Demons 7-1 in the first half and held a 2-0 halftime advantage. However, the Blue Demons were able to settle in and control the action more effectively in the second half. After making one stop in the first half, Cruz made four second half saves to keep the Red Storm offense from adding to the lead.

DePaul pushed forward and looked for opportunities to play balls into the final third. A header attempt from Matty Brickman in the 79th minute was the best scoring chance for the Blue Demons with time winding down, but Brickman's attempt sailed high. The Red Storm were able to manage the Blue Demon offense and seal the 2-0 BIG EAST road win.

The Blue Demons will head to Cincinnati on Wednesday with a chance to claim a spot in the BIG EAST Championship. DePaul will need to finish in the top six of the conference standings to claim a spot in the BIG EAST tournament. With plenty of action happening around the league later this evening and on Wednesday, postseason implications for Wednesday's match are yet to be determined.

KEY STATS

St. John's outshot DePaul 13-3 on Saturday afternoon. The Red Storm put seven attempts on target while the Blue Demons managed only one.
Cruz made five saves in goal for DePaul. He has now recorded five or more saves in three of the last four matches.

UP NEXT

DePaul takes on Xavier on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 5 p.m. CT. The match will likely have postseason implications as the Blue Demons will be searching for a top-six finish in the BIG EAST. The match will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network on FloSports, presented by SoFi.

For all of the latest on DePaul Men's Soccer, stay tuned to depaulbluedemons.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.