September 22, 2012
COMING UP SHORT
10-man St. John's men fall at UConn, 3-0

STORRS, Conn. – Forced to play with 10 men for the final 59 minutes due to a red card, No. 13 St. John’s had its season-opening eight-game unbeaten streak snapped with a 3-0 loss at No. 2 Connecticut on Saturday night.

Goalkeeper Rafael Diaz made three saves for St. John’s (5-1-3, 0-1-0). Carlos Alvarez tallied two goals to lead the Huskies (7-0-1, 1-0-0).

“It was great to have so many students and fans make the trip tonight to cheer us on and I’m sorry we couldn’t get them a better result,” St. John's coach Dr. Dave Masur said. “We held quite a bit of possession in their end of the field, but we weren’t able to convert.”

St. John’s had its first chance of the game in the 10th minute as Brandon Savino had a 20-yard shot saved by Blake.

The Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute. After Adria Beso played a ball out wide to the right flank, Max Wasserman sent a cross towards the far post and Alvarez pushed a shot past Diaz from 10 yards.

The game took a turn in the 32nd minute when forward Danny Bedoya was slapped with a red card, forcing St. John’s to play with 10 men for the remainder of the game.

Connecticut had the first scoring chance of the second half as Stephane Diop ripped a shot on net in the 51st minute, but Diaz made a leaping save to tip the ball past the endline.

St. John’s had a great chance to tie the game in the 69th minute as a UConn handball in the penalty gave the Red Storm a penalty kick. Jelani Williams, however, missed high.

The next scoring chance for the Huskies came in the 79th minute as a foul in the box resulted in a penalty kick. After the first attempt was disallowed because of encroachment, Alvarez converted the penalty kick to give UConn a 2-0 advantage.

Connecticut added a goal in the 83rd minute as Allando Mattheson scored.

St. John’s concludes non-conference play against Columbia on Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m.