Tani Oluwaseyi scored his eighth goal for St. John’s. (Photo courtesy of St. John’s SID)
OMAHA, Neb. – The No. 7 St. John’s University men continued their best start in decades, topping Creighton University, 2-0, in front of more than 2,000 fans in a Big East game at Morrison Stadium Saturday night.
The Red Storm (12-1-0, 5-0-0) maintained its position atop the league standings, staying two points clear of No. 13 Georgetown (11-1-1, 4-0-1). The Johnnies and the Hoyas will square off on Wednesday night at Belson Stadium.
St. John’s, which checked in at No. 2 in last week’s first edition of the NCAA RPI, recorded its fifth consecutive clean sheet and its ninth overall. The shutout streak is the program’s longest since the Big East Championship season of 2011, when the Johnnies rattled off six consecutive shutouts in September. Goalkeeper Jan Hoffelner made two saves to register his sixth win while Luka Gavran tallied one save in the second half to preserve the lead. Eight of the team’s nine shutouts have been joint efforts by the goalkeeping tandem.
Sophomore Tani Oluwaseyi scored his eighth goal of the season, including his fifth game-winner, in the first half to give the Johnnies an early advantage. Oluwaseyi, who leads the Big East in goals and points, became the first St. John’s player to score eight times in a season since Nelson Becerra accomplished the feat during the College Cup campaign of 2008.
Freshman Atila Ashrafi netted his second goal of the campaign in the 74th minute.
In five Big East games, St. John’s has outscored the opposition, 14-1. All 14 of those goals have been unanswered since the Red Storm trailed 1-0 Xavier University, 1-0 in its Sept. 20 league opener.
The win was the first for St. John’s in four opportunities at Morrison Stadium, a venue at which the Bluejays have a winning percentage of better than .800 dating back to its opening in 2003.