|
Blue Demons Top St. John's to Move into First Place
QUEENS, N.Y. DePaul’s magic carpet ride continued through the Big Apple as the Blue Demons dealt St. John’s a 2-0 defeat on Saturday night at Belson Stadium. The Red Storm entered the match as one of the BIG EAST’s hottest teams with a seven-match unbeaten streak and left the pitch as DePaul’s third straight victim to propel the Blue Demons into first place in the BIG EAST’s Red Division. DePaul (10-5-0, 6-4-0 BIG EAST) managed just four shots in the 90 minutes, but made the most of their chances with two goals on the two second-half attempts. Following a scoreless first half, Willy Lara notched his first collegiate goal as he tallied an unassisted score in the 54th minute. Lara picked up a deflection inside the 18-yard box and capitalized at 53:31 for the eventual game-winning goal. Alex Mangan finished the evening’s offense with his team-high sixth goal of the season at 70:52. Mangan was able to head the ball into the net after a cross was deflected by St. John’s goalkeeper Jason Landers. St. John’s (8-5-4, 5-2-2 BIG EAST) totaled 13 shots with Brian Visser tallying five saves for DePaul. During their seven-match unbeaten streak prior to Saturday night, the Red Storm had allowed just one goal and had only allowed four all season at Belson Stadium. The sixth conference win moves the Blue Demons into the Red Division’s top slot with 18 points. St. John’s sits in second place with 17 points followed by Louisville and USF with 16 points each in a tie for third place. Louisville hosts Rutgers on Sunday with each victory counting three points in the standing and a tie giving each team one point. DePaul steps out of conference play for a match at Loyola-Chicago on Wednesday night. The Blue Demons and Ramblers are among the Great Lakes Region top 10 and kick off at 7 p.m. in Rogers Park. The regular season concludes at home on Saturday, Nov. 3 against Syracuse. Match Notes: The 10 victories are the most since the 1994 season... the 1994 team posted a school-record 12 victories... the 2007 squad is just the third in school history to win at least 10 matches... Alex Mangan moved into a tie for 20th all-time on DePaul’s scoring list... he has totaled 23 points on 11 goals and one assist... Brian Visser notched his eighth shutout of the season... DePaul leads the all-time series, 2-1-0.
|
