St. John’s Red Storm goalie John Stagmiller made a career-high nine saves as his team played to a 0-0 tie against Marquette at Belson Stadium on Saturday, to open up Big East Conference play.
“Marquette has a lot of offensive weapons and they came in here well-rested so we knew it would be a typical Big East battle,” said Dr. Dave Masur, Red Storm head coach. “I thought our guys did well to meet that challenge and earn a result. We are still learning, but we are continuing to get better and tonight was a big step.”
The Golden Eagles put the pressure on Stagmiller early on as Kelmend Islami had a shot in the fifth minute, David Selvaggi blasted a shot in the ninth minute before C. Nortey collected the rebound and sent a shot attempt high. Alex McBride had his shot attempt blocked in the 11th minute before Stagmiller saved a follow-up shot from Selvaggi.
St. John’s was held without a shot until the 36th minute of the contest when Lucas Fagotti made a run toward the right edge of the 18-yard box and beat a defender before unleashing a shot that bounced off the goalpost.
The second half was much of the same, with Marquette registering first shot of the half, but Stagmiller made the save.
The Red Storm was able to get some pressure as Filippo Ricupati had a shot blocked in the 50th minute and Jean Leveille missed high in the 55th minute. Marquette goalie Luis Barraza made saves against Leveille in the 62nd minute and Luis Esteves in the 66th minute.
The back-and-forth play continued throughout regulation as neither goaltender would relinquish a goal.
In overtime, both teams had their opportunities but could not sneak a go-ahead goal past Stagmiller or Barraza, resulting in a 0-0 draw.
