UCONN With the Late Winner

St Johns women’s soccer enters today’s match after a disappointing Big East Opener at home to the Hoyas of Georgetown. Today’s match in Storrs will hopefully be a match that gets the squad back on track and into position to contend for a Big East title this season. UCONN will be another tough match, though not to the extent of Georgetown who is on a different level. The Red Storm enter today’s match with a Big East record of 0-1-0, and an overall record of 5-2-2, The Huskies enter the match with a Big East record of 1-0-0 and an overall record of 4-2-2.

The rivalry between the schools is tight and seems to be a back-and-forth affair with the overall record being pretty much equal throughout. Jessica Garziano has been a standout this year for the Johnnies topping the record charts while keeping her team in every match while Ava Collins is out with an injury. The team definitely misses the grit provided by Ava and her world class ability on the ball.

Jessica a graduate student midfielder from Melville, NY on Long Island has been a standout throughout her career at St. Johns under Ian Stone. The top 50 standout on Long Island prior to entering college, never took her foot off the pedal and has had a stellar career that sees her holding the school record for assists in a career and now on the top 5 in points list as well. If anything is certain it will be that Jessica will not be slowing down and she is sure to take down some more records before she graduates the program. Don’t be surprised to see the standout playing in the NWSL next season or maybe in Europe in the WSL. She is hands down one of the best midfielders in the country and players overall. It would be surprising if she isn’t listed in the top 50 players in the US at seasons end.

The match saw St. John’s get off to a slow start again and have to fight back into the game when UCONN’s Cara Jordan scored just 6:23 into the match and set the tone. The goal was assisted by Abbey Jones, it was her 9th career assist for the school since joining from Nottingham, England.

St. Johns would respond late in the second half drawing the match even at 1 – 1 when none other than standout Jessica Garziano found the back of the net in at 87:24 of the match. She would find a gap and put the ball inside the first post off an assist from Frederique St.-Jean. Her athleticism is off the charts and her IQ of the game is unmatched. She can see gaps and plays forming before everyone else on the pitch and seems to always be in the right spot to have the greatest chance possible. She will surely be a top pick in the upcoming NWSL draft if she decides to enter over playing in Europe.

Unfortunately, the Johnnies gave a goal right back to the Huskies at the 87:46 mark of the match when Cara Jordan assisted Abbey Jones for the game-winner. Abbey managed to strike the back of the net right down Broadway to send St. Johns home without any points for the second consecutive Big East match. It was a disappointing loss for SJU, they had the match there for the taking and a quick lapse in awareness saw them leave in defeat instead. It’s a teaching moment that Ian Stone will surely harp on in practice and in film study. You just can’t let this type of goal happen after tying the match late and seizing the momentum of the match. While the roster is loaded with talent silly errors like this are costly and can be the reason you miss the conference tournament and especially the NCAA tournament.

The defeat at UCONN will now create hardship for the highly preseason ranked Red Storm to secure home field in the Big East Tournament. While two losses don’t seem like a lot in the Big East where you have titans miss the conference tournament over one mistake, two losses can be very damaging especially this early on when momentum plays a huge role. The Red Storm will look to bounce back in their next match which is against Seton Hall a team that should be a victory for the Red Storm. However, given the previous two matches this team can’t take anything for granted and must show up in South Orange, NJ for another road test early in conference play. Set Pieces will surely be a highlight of training and film study this week heading into the Seton Hall match, SJU had 8 corners and 8 free kicks but only managed to get off 5 shots, with only 2 being on frame and one finding the back of the net. UConn however managed 10 shots, with 5 shots being on target and 2 finding the back of the net. They also had 8 corners and 8 free kicks in match.