QUEENS, N.Y – Behind goals from Zsani Kajan and Nicole Gordon within a six-minute span, the St. John’s University women recorded its fourth consecutive win in a 2-1 Big East victory over Villanova University at Belson Stadium Thursday night.
The Red Storm (10-5-2, 6-3-1), which secured the four seed in the Big East tournament with the result, will host Providence (10-5-3, 5-3-2) in quarterfinal action on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Queens. UConn (9-7-1, 5-4-1) will head to Butler (14-3-1, 7-2-1) in the other opening round match-up.
Kajan and Gordon tallied in the 54th and 60th minutes, respectively. Kajan, who led the nation in scoring entering the gameh, scored her 16th goal. The Budapest, Hungary native has found the back of the net 44 times inher Red Storm career. Gordon, a sophomore forward from Amityville, N.Y., notched her second tally of the season.
Kajan also picked up an assist on Gordon’s goal, which proved to be the game-winner. Nicole Multer also recorded an assist on Gordon’s goal. Jessica Garziano registered her team-high eighth assist of the season on Kajan’s goal.
St. John’s outshot Villanova, 15-5.
Kajan broke through in the 54th minute. Garziano began the sequence with a through ball. Anticipating the feed, Kajan took possession before rocketing a shot to the upper right side of the net.
On the hour, the Johnnies took a two-goal lead behind Gordon. Kajan sent a quick pass up to Gordon, who corralled the ball. She powered a right-footed strike to the left corner of the cage.
With just a little over four minutes remaining, Villanova’s Chloe O’Neill found the back of the net to pull the score within one.