With time winding down and the St. John’s Red Storm down 1-0 against the No. 1 ranked Creighton Bluejays, Filippo Ricupati put one in the back of the net to level the score in the 79th minute.
The Red Storm’s celebration was short-lived as Creighton netted the game-winning goal in the 87th minute, topping St. John’s 2-1 at Morrison Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
“We did a much better job in the second half of working through the central midfield and squeezing up to create a number of opportunities, including the equalizer,” said Dr. Dave Masur, Red Storm head coach. “Creighton has a great program and they are undefeated for a reason, but we played right with them and are certainly disappointed to not come away with a result.”
Creighton went on the attack early, forcing St. John’s goaltender Jordan Stagmiller to make some difficult saves. Eventually the Bluejays took advantage of a corner kick and scored the opening goal of the contest.
Following a pass from the right side by Timo Pitter, Fabian Herbers launched a shot that deflected past Stagmiller, giving Creighton the early 1-0 lead.
Stagmiller and the Red Storm were under attack by the Bluejays, facing shots in the 19th, 23rd and 26th minutes, but St. John’s held strong.
With Creighton still leading at half, the Red Storm came out firing in the second half, looking for the equalizer. They would finally break through in the 79th minute when a header from Marti Tapia in the center of the box found Ricupati, who tied the score at 1-1 with a bicycle kick past Creighton goalie Connor Sparrow and just under the crossbar.
Creighton retook the lead in the 87th minute when a shot from Ricky Lopez-Espin deflected off the left post and Noah Franke collected the rebound and put it past Stagmiller for the game-winner.
The Red Storm returns to action and hosts Xavier on Oct. 14 for a 7:30 p.m. game at Belson Stadium.
