JAMAICA, N.Y. – In the large picture, Brenna Brown's tally didn't have that much of an effect on the final 5-1 score. But for the psyche and the relentless character of this group, Brown's tally in the 75th minute rewarded a perseverant quality they have shown throughout this difficult non-conference schedule. Brown's score was the third of the season for the senior, and was just the second goal allowed by St. John's in 586 minutes for the 2016 season.
“It's about confidence,” Head Coach Jim O'Brien said. “We scored the goal and turned things up and looked like a much better team against a very high quality opponent. That's a team that's going to be towards the top at the Big East and NCAA Tournament bound so it's just excellent preparation for us. I know it's been a tough road for us but the girls are resilient, they're working hard, they haven't backed down against anybody and most importantly they haven't given up at all.”
“The goal was nice but in general the whole second half we competed with them,” Brown said. “It was so promising to see. We had a lot of opportunities up front and going into the MAAC that's something we needed to work on. Tonight showed we have it in us against very good teams.”
The reigning Big East regular season champions St. John's (4-0-2) did extend their unbeaten streak to six matches in arguably their best effort of the year. The Stags (1-5) never gave up and held tough against arguably their best competition of the season, but the Red Storm scored three clinical goals in a textbook first half were the difference in the 5-1 match.
Despite falling behind 5-0, Fairfield recorded all of their four corner kicks and their two best chances in the final 20 minutes before Brown's tally. With the backup goalkeeper in net, Brown was able to coax the net minder off the line with a deek and finished easily in the lower corner for the first goal allowed by the Red Storm at Belson Stadium this year. It also broke up the fifth shutout by two-time reigning Big East Goalkeeper of the Year Diana Poulin, which would have been atop of the NCAA statistics.
After that goal, the Stags kept pressuring the Red Storm, showing the squad they can hang with top quality talent.
The pace of the unbeaten Red Storm dictated the tempo in the early going, especially down the right side by Claudia Cagnina who led to the first two goals for the Red Storm. St. John's got on the board in the 11th minute when Cagnina sent a cross into the middle of the box that was originally punched out by Jenna Pike but Connecticut native Shea Connors was able to corral a tip from Samie Scaffidi to touch net for the first time. Cagnina also had a hand in the second goal for St. John's as her cross was deflected by a Fairfield defender but Morgan Tinari launched a floater over the leaping Pike to give the home side a 2-0 lead.
Although she wasn't credited with a shot, Anna Borea had the best chance for the Stags in the early going on the first free kick opportunity. Nearly 30 yards out, Borea launched a free kick right towards the goal that was caught by the St. John's all-time wins leader in Poulin, but was dropped for a moment before the senior corralled the rebound.
Facing 14 shots in the opening 45 minutes, Pike did an admirable job to try and take away those scoring chances. Pike had the first highlight moment for the Stags when she pushed the ball off the line with a dive to her right to turn away St. John's first shot. Pike also was forced to punch away several crosses which won't show up in the scoresheet.
St. John's added a score in the 36th minute off a corner kick from Tinari to Alexa Dolgos.
Another player who went under the radar was freshman Melanie Hingher who was all over the center of the field on the defensive end and had several steals inside the box. With those opportunities, the 6-1 freshman headed chances from the box and also used her footwork to escape other trouble.
The Stags were able to slow down the pace of the home side in the second half especially the tempo of Cagnina. In the opening minutes, Cagnina had another chance to set up the St. John's offense, but Borea was able to outrun the forward and watch the ball out of bounds. Borea also interrupted Dolgos running down the right wing a few minutes later.
Borea wasn't able to get in the way of the fourth goal for the Red Storm which happened in the 52nd minute when Lucy Whipp made a move and created space before finishing the goal.
It took the Stags 49 minutes to get their first shot on goal but Hingher stopped the streak as her header off a Holly Habyan free kick that was easily picked up by Poulin. Cassidy Boegel and Sara Plowman took a pair of shots on one possession, but neither would result with a shot on the frame.
Plowman, who took the first shot for the Stags in the first half, gave Poulin her biggest test of the evening. The sophomore found the ball on the left edge of the box and launched a line drive over the head of Poulin, but the senior swatted the ball away. Fairfield also had an opportunity with their first corner kick in the 65th minute, but Julia McGuire's corner was punched out by the goalkeeper.
That was just the start of a second half where the Stags showed they can hang with the quality talent. The Stags out-shot St. John's 8-7 in the second frame including four corner kicks.
“It shows that resiliency isn't about short term gains, it's a season-long thing,” Brown said. “Starting in August all the way until November, even if you aren't rewarded for something just keep at it and eventually things will come.”
“That's going to make the difference when we get into conference play,” Coach O'Brien said. “That type of effort and of course the resiliency is something we're going to have as we get ready for the MAAC.”
The Stags will wrap-up the road portion of their non-conference schedule when they travel to Drexel for a matchup with the Dragons on Thursday at 7pm.
