Men's Soccer: No. 15 St. John's stuns Tigers with last-second goal

The men’s soccer team faced a tough opponent in its final tuneup before Ivy League play — No. 15 St. John’s, whose only two losses came to No. 1 Connecticut and No. 3 Maryland. The Tigers (1-5-1) battled back from a two-goal deficit to force overtime and were just seconds away from a draw, but the Red Storm (6-2-1) broke their hearts with a game-winning goal. Only four seconds remained on the stadium clock when Pablo Battuto Punyed found the net, giving St. John’s a 3-2 win.

The Tigers started off the game hot, earning three corners and taking three shots in the first nine minutes of the game. But the Red Storm drew first blood in the 15th minute when junior goalkeeper Max Gallin was drawn out of the net and failed to eject the ball from the box. It was recovered by St. John’s defender Jamie Thomas, who took the ball around Gallin and calmly placed it in the left side of the net past two Princeton defenders.

The goal was the first of Thomas’ career and represented a major turning point in momentum, as the Red Storm’s senior forward Walter Hines showed off his speed with three consecutive breakaway shots on goal in the next seven minutes of the game. The final of these required a team save, when Hines fired off a shot before Gallin could recover. The Tigers’ defense stood strong, however, and held the Red Storm scoreless for the rest of the half.

The second half opened up with the momentum still in the Red Storm’s favor, as it matched Princeton’s first-half feat of three shots on goal in the first nine minutes. Those attempts were fruitless, but in the 62nd minute, midfielder Adrian L’Esperance took the a pass from midfielder Daniel Herrera and drove the ball past a diving Gallin into the bottom left corner of the net.

Princeton immediately rebounded from the seemingly devastating blow with a quick strike of its own. After being plagued with double and triple coverage throughout the first half, star senior forward Antoine Hoppenot put a move on his defenders and got off a pass to freshman midfielder Myles McGinley, whose shot was redirected into the goal by freshman forward Cameron Porter. The reinvigorated Princeton squad then weathered the storm when St. John’s countered with three shots on goal between the 66th and 69th minutes.

Princeton answered with the final goal of regulation when Porter delivered the equalizer in the 76th minute. The freshman directed a header into the upper right corner of the goal off the foot of Hoppenot, who had again used his speed and footwork to beat his man on the right side of the goal.

The first overtime looked promising for the surging Tiger offense, which took the only three shot attempts of the period. The closest of these tries came in the second minute of the period, when sophomore midfielder Dylan Bowman attempted to chip in a cross from the left side of the goal. The shot rolled just wide, however, as Bowman could not get to the ball in time and was forced to take a desperation shot.

The Red Storm turned the tables in the second period of extra time, attempting the only two shots. With just four seconds remaining on the clock, Battuto Punyed took a cross from L’Esperance and buried in the right side of the goal past the diving Gallin.

After the disheartening loss, head coach Jim Barlow ’91 stressed to his team that they “had to get ready for the Ivy League.”

“They can’t dwell on this game, because they have to be ready for Saturday,” he added.

The defending Ivy League champions will travel to Dartmouth to play their first league game of the year on Saturday. Despite the disappointing ending to Wednesday night’s contest, the Tigers can take solace in knowing that they erased a 2-0 deficit against a team that has already shut out both Harvard and Yale.