By Dylan Butler
As Rich Bradley stepped to the penalty spot in the 51st minute of a scoreless tie against Big East rival Connecticut Friday night, the St. John’s senior midfielder couldn’t get the silence he sought.
Not from the raucous sellout crowd of 2,266, but from his own head.
“Don’t miss,” said the little voice inside his head. “This could the game,” it continued to pester.
While he wasn’t able to completely mute the voices, he was able to turn them down enough to score the game-winner in the Red Storm’s 1-0 win in the marquee match of the Daly Worldwide Communications tournament at Belson Stadium. The game was played under a driving rain that intensified as the match went on.
The game was scheduled to start at 8 p.m., but because the two games before it — a St. John’s women’s game and the Adelphi/Long Island University tournament opener — went to overtime, the highly anticipated game didn’t actually kickoff until 9:53 p.m.
The win, coupled with Indiana’s loss to Cal State Fullerton, put St. John’s atop the national polls for a second time this season.
Bradley beat Schuerman, who dove right, low to the freshman keeper’s left after referee Alex Ivanenko called a hand ball on UConn’s top defender, Shavar Thomas, on the goal line.
“Relief hits you first when you see the goalie go the other way and then all other emotions take over positively,” said Bradley, who leapt into the boisterous student section behind the net immediately after scoring his third goal of the year. “Exhilaration, being ecstatic, adrenaline just starts pumping through your body in that situation.”
Exactly two minutes later, UConn (11-4, 5-3 Big East) had their best scoring chance of the game when senior forward Damani Ralph’s shot from the top of the box deflected off St. John’s defender Pat Lonergan foot and off the near post.
Ralph showed why he is considered one of the best strikers in the country, taking his team on his back for most of the game and nearly netting the equalizer on several occasions. He had seven of his team’s nine shots.
One such chance came in the 69th minute when Ralph again found space in the box on a pass from Rui Fernandes, but his shot from 16 yards out was stopped by Red Storm junior keeper Billy Gaudette, who dove to his left to make his lone save of the game to earn his 11th shutout of the year.
“He’s an amazing player with tons of skill coming out of him,” Gaudette said of Ralph. “He got a great chance in the second half, the defense played it well and I was able to get my hands on it and push it wide and the defense did the rest.”
Ralph may be one of the best individual finishers in the country, but St. John’s defensive unit is arguably the best in the nation, boasting the top goals against average in the country (0.23) having allowed just five goals all year — including just one at Belson Stadium.
Leading that defensive corp is junior Chris Wingert, who Connecticut coach Ray Reid said was “the best defender in the country,” in the days leading up to the game.
With five minutes left in the first half Ralph, on a great through ball by Michael Mordocco, was one-on-one with Red Storm sophomore Chris Leidner in the box. But Wingert swept in from behind to break up a sure scoring chance.
“I was a little bit impressed, at least for the first two-thirds of the game, with our ability to make good decisions on the ball in the attacking end of the field,” said St. John’s coach Dave Masur. “We were able to sustain and link some passes together which allowed us to keep some pressure.”
UConn coach Ray Reid didn’t want to talk about Ralph, Wingert or Gaudette after the game. In fact he had very little to say about any aspect of the hard-fought match.
“I have no thoughts really on the game,” he said, standing outside of the UConn bus. “I’d rather not say anything that I’m going to regret.”
St. John’s (11-1-4, 7-1-1) went a long way towards clinching the Big East regular season title with the win, their second straight against UConn after an 0-4-1 record against Reid’s Huskies.
The Red Storm, who are now undefeated in 14 straight matches, can capture the crown and the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament with a win at Georgetown Saturday at 1 p.m.
St. John’s 1, Long Island University 1. Wendell Parris put the Blackbirds in front in the 23rd minute, scoring only the second goal at Belson Stadium for the visiting team, from eight yards out.
St. John’s averted a major upset as Chris Corcoran’s header found the back of the net from eight yards out in the 65th minute Saturday at Belson Stadium.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
