Zsani Kajan scored the Red Storm’s second goal. (Photo courtesy of St. John’s)

STORRS, Conn. – The St. John’s University women connected for three goals in 12 minutes, defeating the University of Connecticut, 3-0, in its Big East opener Thursday night.

Brooke Boyd netted her third goal of the season in the 43rd minute to give St. John’s (5-2-1, 1-0-0) an early edge that would not relinquish against the Huskies (4-4-0, 0-1-0).

Zsani Kajan, who ranked second in the nation for scoring entering the contest, scored her 10th goal of the campaign in the 46th minute. Kajan became the only player in program history to record double-digit scoring in three seasons. The Budapest, Hungary native tallied a career-high 11 scores in 2018 and again in 2019.

Kajan has scored 38 career goals, surpassing Cristin Burtis and moving into third on the Red Storm’s all-time scoring list.

Isabelle Aviza notched her second goal of the season, adding an insurance tally off a pass from Jessica Garziano in the 55th minute. The assist was one of two on the evening for Garziano. Shannon Aviza also logged an assist.

Goalkeeper Naya Lipkens played all 90 minutes between the pipes for the Red Storm, making two critical saves to preserve the clean sheet. All five St. John’s wins this season have come in shutout fashion.

With two minutes remaining in the first half, Boyd converted off a header from Shannon Aviza to send St. John’s into the lockeroom with a 1-0 advantage.

The Red Storm’s late spark carried over into the second half, as Kajan found the back of the net seconds into the second stanza. The 5-7 forward struck from just outside the 18-yard box to give the Johnnies a 2-0 lead.

Nine minutes later, Aviza netted her second goal of the season. The sequence began as Garziano sent a pass inside to Aviza, who corralled the ball before rocketing a shot over the head of the UConn keeper.

The Red Storm welcomes DePaul University to Queens for the team’s conference home opener Sunday at 1 p.m.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.