By Dylan Butler
It is no longer a question of if Shalrie Joseph will be moved to forward to score the winning goal for the St. John’s men’s soccer team, but when.
For the second straight game and third time in the last four games, the senior from Brooklyn won the game in the final minutes, this time netting the game-winner Sunday in the 79th minute to lift eighth-seeded St. John’s to a 1-0 win over the University of Massachusetts in a second-round NCAA game at Adelphi University’s Stiles Field in Garden City.
The Red Storm advance to the Round of 16 for a sixth straight year where they will host Penn State Saturday at Adelphi. Kickoff is slated for noon.
“Shalrie is a very good player. He’s intelligent, skilled and to go along with that he’s very composed,” said St. John’s head coach Dave Masur. “Sometimes you have to sacrifice for the betterment of the team and when you sacrifice for the team better things tend to happen.”
To help shore up the Red Storm’s back line, Joseph volunteered his services early in the year despite never having played defense and knowing it would hinder his goal-scoring capabilities.
In St. John’s run through the Big East tournament, the same scenario kept repeating itself. After playing defense for the first half, Masur pushed Joseph up front in the second half and the move paid major dividends. Against Boston College in the conference quarterfinals, Joseph scored the game-winner in the 70th minute.
Against the University of Connecticut last weekend in Storrs, Conn. Joseph again struck, scoring in the 82nd minute to lead the Red Storm to its record sixth Big East Tournament crown en route to tournament Most Outstanding Performer honors.
Against UMass (15-5-1), a team making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament, the move wasn’t so blatant. When he saw an opportunity, Joseph crept forward, first through the midfield and finally as a forward. The Red Storm (15-2-3) dominated possession and had several quality chances, outshooting the Minutemen 7-1 in the first half, but the game was still scoreless and Joseph was frustrated.
“The coaches just told me if I don’t move up, don’t worry and keep composed in the back,” Joseph said. “I was happy to go up to the midfield and play some balls wide.”
When Joseph finally was moved up to forward midway through the second half, UMass senior defender J.R. Pouncey was one person who was not too happy.
“He added a whole new dimension to the game. He’s athletic, he’s tall, he’s tough to beat to the ball. He’s the complete package,” Pouncey said of Joseph. “Marking him is like marking two players.”
Joseph immediately caused the Minutemen defenders fits. In the 74th minute Joseph flicked Jeff Matteo’s cross towards the goal but UMass senior keeper Brian O’Quinn just got a piece of the ball before it went out for a corner kick.
A little more than a minute later Angel Rodriguez’s flick header freed Joseph down the wing, but his low shot rolled just inches wide of the far post.
UMass head coach Sam Koch said after the game that he wanted to limit Joseph to two chances, but the native of Grenada had a third, which proved costly.
Matia Damiani dished to Joseph along the right side of the box. After first getting past John Lytton, UMass’ best man-marking defender, Joseph faked shooting the bouncing ball. Pouncey jumped in the air in an attempt to block the shot, but Joseph cut inside of the defender, settled the ball and put a low shot from 8 yards out off the far post and in for his sixth goal of the year.
“It was a header and I ran into space,” Joseph said. “I took a low shot in on the keeper and I happened to hit it well.”
Next up for the Red Storm is a third-round game against Penn State (14-4-1). The Nittany Lions are led by senior midfielders Ricardo Villar and Derek Potteiger, both unanimous All-Big 10 first-team selections.
Villar is the team’s leading scorer with nine goals and 13 assists for 31 points and Potteiger, who has two goals and five assists for nine points, scored the game-winning goal the last time St. John’s and Penn State met in the NCAA tournament as the Nittany Lions defeated the Red Storm, 2-1 in triple overtime of the second round of the 1999 NCAA tournament.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
